Late-season soft citrus volumes continued to grow in South Africa during the 2022 season, while many early season varieties continued their downward trend.

The South African Citrus Growers Association (CGA) said that the 16.1 million boxes of Nadorcott/Tango mandarins were packed for export. This is compared to 15.3 million in the 2021, and the five-year average of just 11 million.

However, production of Satsumas continues to gradually fall. Around 1.6 million boxes of rhe variety were packed this year, compared to 1.7 million last year and the five-year average of 1.8 million.

The CGA said this decline is due to growers responding to consumer preferences.

As for clementines, 3.9 million boxes were packed, down from 4.6 million last year, but slightly above the five-year average of 3.6 million.

Shipping percentage to Europe and the UK was exactly the same as 2021. There were decreases in percentage sent to Middle East (15-13%) and Asia (8-6%).

There was an increase in mandarins shipped to South East Asia (mostly China) from 9% to 10%. Also increased shipping to North America (13-15%) and an increase from 8% to 10% to Russia.