Increase in fruit exports fails to result in profits, says association
The Citrus Growers Association says despite an increase in exported fruit this year, it has not resulted in profits.
The association blames a delayed knock from the July looting, saying it is now being felt.
It says 2021 has been a record-breaking year as far as exports are concerned.
It says 2,4 million tonnes of mainly naartjies and other soft citrus left our shores.
That's 10 million cartons more than those exported in 2020.
The association's Justin Chadwick says due the unrest, which was followed by the cyber attack at Transnet and subsequent backlog at the Durban harbour, much of the produce was damaged or spoilt.
“You’ll remember that Transnet was hit by a cyber attack and that unfortunately set our packing back by a couple of weeks.
“You’ll remember the insurrection in KZN which meant we couldn’t ship fruit or transport fruit down to the port for a couple or weeks, or even three to four weeks.
“All of those factors impacted our ability to move fruit into the market, added costs and unfortunately impact the quality of fruit on arrival.”
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