Critical South African industry shooting the lights out

South Africa’s citrus industry continues to see success, recently overtaking Spain to become the world’s largest citrus exporter by volume.

According to the International Trade Center (ITC), more than 2.9 million tonnes of citrus were exported from South Africa in 2025, compared to Spain’s 2.7 million tonnes.

Agriculture Minister John Steenhuisen celebrated the milestone and congratulated the farm workers and value-chain partners on their achievement.

In a statement, Steenhuisen described the victory as something every South African citizen should be celebrating.

“To overtake a citrus export giant like Spain, even by a small margin, is no easy feat,” Steenhuisen said. “We are known for our world-class quality fruit and strict compliance with international plant health standards.”

While South Africa’s citrus industry leads in terms of export volumes, countries such as Spain, Brazil and China continue to outperform the country in terms of total production.

It is also worth noting that the value of Spain’s citrus exports still far exceeded South Africa’s in 2025, despite falling slightly behind in terms of export volumes.

As per the ITC’s Trade Map, Spain’s citrus exports were valued at over $4.2 billion in 2025, compared to South Africa’s $2.5 billion.

The milestone also comes after a period of challenging weather conditions for Spain’s citrus industry, including droughts, extreme heat and hailstorms.

In contrast, South Africa’s citrus industry greatly benefitted from favourable weather conditions and the planting of new orchards in key growing regions.

Steenhuisen stressed that seasonal coordination between the two countries is critical to ensure continued global access to fresh citrus products.

He also praised the Citrus Growers’ Association of South Africa (CGA) for its resilience during a period of significant market volatility, and said his department was committed to ensuring easier market access.

“Our production growth must be met with intensified diplomacy and infrastructure support,” Steenhuisen said. “We are continuously looking for new market opportunities while working to ensure that we expand our current markets.”

Citrus industry’s future increasingly uncertain

Despite this recent victory, South Africa’s citrus industry continues to grapple with issues related to rising input costs and weather challenges.

Heavy storms and flooding across South Africa have negatively impacted many farmers, including those in key citrus provinces such as the Eastern Cape, Western Cape and Mpumalanga.

CGA COO Paul Hardman said that while the CGA does expect a decline in production volumes due to the weather, it is still too early to know the true scale of the impact.

“When we did our estimates in February, it all looked fantastic in terms of a really good and promising year ahead,” Hardman said. “So we were slightly up even on last year’s crop.”

“But things have turned around pretty quickly now with these recent floods and ongoing rain. So it’s a little bit too early to tell how flooding in the Eastern Cape and Western Cape will affect this crop.”

Hardman said it was difficult to estimate the damage at this stage, and that this will only become clear after the flooding has subsided and orchard evaluations have taken place.

He also expressed concerns over the impact on infrastructure, and how this will affect the packing process and transport of citrus goods to the ports for exporting.

The conflict in the Middle East has also significantly impacted South Africa’s citrus industry, with about 20% of the country’s citrus exports going to that region.

Rising fuel and fertiliser prices as a result of the closure of the Strait of Hormuz have greatly driven up the input costs of farmers across South Africa.

And while fruit is still being exported to the Middle East, it now has to be done via other channels with the Strait being deemed too risky.

“We are relying on shipping lines and other logistics partners to get the fruit there via other ports,” Hardman said. “It’s much more expensive, and there are delays in terms of how long it takes for that fruit to get there.”