21 May 2025
California Citrus

Import tariffs expected to have limited impact on citrus shipments from the southern hemisphere

California’s mandarin supply is gradually winding down and harvest will likely wrap up in the last week of May or the first week of June. “This is in line with what we expected or perhaps a bit earlier,” says Miles Fraser-Jones with Sierra Produce. There is already less fruit available in the market as some California grower-shippers are holding back fruit in order to be able to continue supplying their retail programs into June. “As a result, we are noticing an improvement on the market conditions, which is positive for southern hemisphere citrus,” Fraser-Jones said.

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24 Jan 2025
Blood orange

Good volume but smaller sizing on California organic citrus

Organic citrus supply is strong right now. “We’re at the heart of the season for the next 90 days–we’re going on all cylinders on all categories,” says Craig Morris, citrus category director for Homegrown Organic Farms. Those citrus categories include Blood oranges, Cara Caras, grapefruit, lemons, mandarins, Navel oranges, and Pomelos. Next month, it will start with Minneolas and Gold Nuggets as well. “From a volume perspective, we’re probably down about 10 percent this year overall and that’s primarily because our size structure is down about ½ to a full size on most commodities. So there are overall boxes lost because of that,” says Morris, adding that this is because it’s been a relatively dry season so far. “Normally, we have a better range of sizes and we’re hoping to make up some ground because we’re a long way from being done.”

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24 Jan 2025
Post-harvest technology

Challenges and opportunities in the post-harvest sector for 2025

The post-harvest sector is undergoing a transformation, driven by growing challenges and opportunities for innovation. In 2025, key market players—producers, exporters, and marketers—face pressing issues such as rising energy costs, process optimization, and compliance with increasingly stringent quality standards. In this context, Maf Roda firmly believes that automation and artificial intelligence will be essential drivers to meet these demands.

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25 Nov 2024
Blood Orange

Re-evaluating citrus properties and benefits

Regular intake of carotenoids in the diet has been associated with the key health benefits of reducing the risk of developing degenerative diseases, cardiovascular issues, and obesity. By informing consumers of these health benefits, as well as recent findings of the carotenoid composition of red (lycopene) oranges, the work of this research team is helping to address the unfortunate decline in citrus consumption.

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25 Aug 2023

Eriophyoids – Not all mites are equal

Eriophyoid mites (erios for short) are the smallest of all mites, with adults around 0.5 mm long. Their small size makes it difficult to spot them in the field, even with a good hand lens. They are sporadic pests that cause serious damage during outbreaks. Usually, erios are found because of the symptoms they cause – bud deformation, rusting or galling, depending on the species. Some erio species live on plants without causing symptoms at all.

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24 Jul 2023
Clemgold

ClemenGold International shares its citrus

Around 1,000 tonnes of citrus is to be distributed to disadvantaged communities this year Leading South African citrus company ClemenGold International has said that it is teaming up with a relief organisation to deliver some 1,000 tonnes of citrus to help alleviate the plight of people in some of the country’s poorer communities. “Caring for the communities surrounding our partner farms and packhouses has been a value upon which we’ve acted since the establishment of our business,” explained Adéle Ackermann, marketing manager for ClemenGold International.

“Fruit is our business and donating Vitamin C-rich citrus is a logical way of contributing towards helping communities to thrive.” The company has announced a partnership with SA Harvest, a registered non-profit and leading food rescue and hunger relief organisation, whereby 1,000 tonnes of citrus will be donated during the 2023 season.

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24 Jul 2023
Orange Tree

Winter storms affect Cape growers

With the latest of a series of winter storms sweeping over the South African Western Cape region, citrus and other fruit growers are facing a difficult period of recovery. For the last ten days all citrus harvesting in the Oliphant’s River Valley, the most important region supplying summer citrus to the US, has been suspended. Infrastructure in the Valley and in other parts of the Western Cape has been damaged, with key roads washed away and communities in rural regions flooded.

The winter storms in these regions have been described as the worst since 2008 when floods rose to record levels in places. It comes when significant volumes of South African citrus are due to be discharged in the US later this week, marking the real start of the marketing season. Significant volumes have also been shipped by containers since April. Industry leaders said that before the storms started enough fruit had been packed for the first three vessels, but that their departure could be delayed.

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27 Jun 2023
Orange Tree

Summer Citrus from South Africa kicks off 25th year

Summer Citrus from South Africa (SCSA) has entered its 25th shipping season with the first fruit arriving in the US towards the end of May.

Despite recent heavy rainfall in the Western Cape and in Citrusdal, where SCSA’s growers are primarily located, the group said it was reorganising after days without electricity, and a lack of access to citrus groves and some roads.

Despite the challenges and a minor setback with timing, SCSA promised that high-quality fruit was on the way weekly for the rest of the summer.

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