Durban – South African final export figures show that the country had seen a record-breaking 2020 export season in the citrus industry that delivered 146 million cartons of South African citrus to the rest of the world.
According to Citrus Growers Association (CGA) chief executive Justin Chadwick, these figures indicated phenomenal growth within the South African citrus industry, which remained the second largest exporter of fresh citrus in the world after Spain.
“This achievement is the result of close collaborations and partnerships within the industry and with the government, and is testament to the quality of South African citrus fruit which is in demand all over the globe.
“It is difficult to tangibly quantify the size and volume of the citrus exported last year, but if we were to stack 146 million cartons of fruit side-by-side, the line of cartons would span approximately 40 000km. That is equal to the height of 4.4 Mount Everest’s stacked one on top of the other,” Chadwick said.
Releasing the stats for December 2020 on Friday, the South African Revenue Service (Sars) said the country recorded a trade surplus of R32 billion. These statistics included trade data with Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho and Namibia (BELN).