SA booming citrus industry has received another boost after getting the go-ahead by the Philippines government to enter that country’s market, after 11 years of negotiations.
With the Philippines importing about 117,000-tonnes of citrus between 2016 and 2018, this new market will help keep the local industry on its strong growth trajectory, said Justin Chadwick, CEO of the Citrus Growers’ Association of Southern Africa, an organisation representing the interests of about 1,400 producers of export citrus throughout the region, including Zimbabwe and Swaziland.
The SA industry recently managed to grow its market share in the US, with about 60,000-tonnes of fruit sent from Cape Town to the port of Philadelphia in 2020 — a 9% increase from the previous record set in 2018.
The industry has been given the go-ahead to export to the Philippines after the signing of a work plan between SA’s department of agriculture and Manila's bureau of plant and industry, a government agency tasked with promoting the development of plant industries in the Southeast Asian country.
The agency was yet to respond to e-mailed questions on Monday.
SA is one of the largest global exporters of citrus fruit. In 2019, the sector generated R20bn in export revenue and created 120,000 jobs.
Before the deal with the Philippines was concluded, SA growers were already expecting another bumper export season. SA expects to ship a record 142.6-million cartons of produce by the end of the 2020 season. This will be a 12% increase compared with 2019 driven by a surge in demand for citrus fruits internationally.
Unverified claims suggest that eating citrus fruits, which are used as home remedies for flu and the common cold, can help prevent coronavirus infection. But according to the World Health Organisation there is no specific medicine recommended to prevent or treat the disease yet.
Chadwick said that overall the association expects the citrus industry to grow by a further 500,000-tonnes over the next three to five years, resulting in more job opportunities and foreign exchange revenue for SA.
“This market access to the Philippines is a resounding vote of confidence in the quality of local citrus and the excellence of our growers,” Chadwick said.
Mandarins make up the biggest volume of citrus imported by the Philippines, with more 80,000-tonnes imported between 2016 and 2018, the majority from China (60%), followed by Pakistan (25%). The largest exporters of mandarins from the southern hemisphere to the Philippines are now Argentina (8,000-tonnes or 10%) and Australia (2,000-tonnes or 3%).
Oranges are the second-largest citrus import (28,000-tonnes between 2016 and 2018), lead by China (22%) and Australia (20%). Lemon imports have also been growing steadily over the past few years, lead by the US and China.
Chadwick said in light of the 2020 citrus season ending in the next few weeks, the first cargo of citrus is likely to ship out to the Philippines only at the start of the 2021 season.
“However, we are now trying to see whether the country will accept trial shipments to test the system so that we kick off with a strong campaign early next year,” he said.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.