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If the Western Cape were a country, it would be the world’s fifth largest exporter of citrus fruits.
South Africa is currently the second biggest exporter of citrus in the world after Spain, accounting for 10% of the global market. The Western Cape currently exports the majority share of this, at 62%, making it the largest exporter of citrus fruit in the Southern Hemisphere.
Over 6% of the global market share of citrus was exported from the Western Cape in 2017. To put this in perspective, China and the USA, which hold the spots as the world’s third and fourth biggest exporters, hold global market share of eight percent and 7 percent respectively.
Most of the province’s exports are oranges (54% of all exports in 2017). However, soft citrus (19%) has shown excellent growth in the past ten years, and lemons and limes, which showed good growth between 2012 and 2015, have since tapered off considerably.