{"id":851134,"date":"2026-02-22T16:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-22T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=851134"},"modified":"2026-02-22T15:04:37","modified_gmt":"2026-02-22T13:04:37","slug":"one-important-sector-in-south-africa-breaking-records","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/851134\/one-important-sector-in-south-africa-breaking-records\/","title":{"rendered":"One important sector in South Africa breaking records"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

South Africa\u2019s citrus industry achieved a record-breaking 2025 export season, shipping over 200 million 15kg cartons worldwide\u2014the highest volume ever recorded, and a significant milestone for the country\u2019s top agricultural export.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Minister of Agriculture John Steenhuisen praised the industry for what he considers an outstanding achievement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 2025 export figure shows a 22% increase over 2024 export volumes, greatly exceeding initial estimates and long-term growth projections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis achievement by the industry is a testament to the resilience and strategic foresight of our citrus growers, workers, and industry leadership,” Steenhuisen said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Hitting over 203 million cartons for the export market is a powerful indicator of the sector’s vital role in our economy, its capacity to create jobs, and its contribution to our country’s foreign earnings.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Africa ranks as the world\u2019s second-largest citrus exporter, after Spain. About two-thirds of local citrus output is exported as fresh fruit, generating 95% of the sector\u2019s yearly revenue and creating significant employment opportunities throughout the value chain. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Citrus stands as South Africa\u2019s most valuable export industry in the agriculture sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt continues to reinforce the role of the fruit industry, which remains the cornerstone of the agricultural sector in the country and a national economy stabiliser in times of a national economic crisis, as witnessed during the COVID-19 epidemic,\u201d the Minister said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also mentioned that the Department of Agriculture will continue to collaborate closely with the industry to overcome logistical challenges, expand and maintain market access, and create more jobs while earning essential foreign exchange.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

National Agricultural Marketing Council agricultural economist Thabile Nkunjana told BusinessDay that a potential driver of these export figures is that countries in the northern hemisphere, such as Turkey, Spain, and the United States, ended their seasons earlier, which allowed South African exporters to export larger quantities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nkunjana said another key factor driving South Africa’s high citrus exports is that the country had favourable production conditions in 2025, and younger orchards, which were invested in over the past six years, had begun to yield fruit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Additionally, Nkunjana added that the improvement in the logistics, which had previously been inefficient across the ports, had contributed to the record-breaking citrus export figure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The impact of US tariffs on exports<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In August 2025, the United States imposed a 30% tariff on all South African products that are exported to the US.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Africa has the highest tariff rate in sub-Saharan Africa due to tensions between US President Donald Trump and the government of President Cyril Ramaphosa. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other African countries, such as Nigeria, Ghana, Lesotho, and Zimbabwe, face a 15% tariff. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is a major setback for South Africa, given that the US is its second-largest trading partner and it exports around 5-6% of its citrus to the US.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the newly imposed tariff was expected to affect South Africa’s export figures, Nkunjana said it had a limited impact on exports because it was imposed towards the end of the export season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the time the tariff was imposed, most of the country’s citrus had already been exported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the latest ruling for the US Supreme Court, the 30% tariff has been deemed illegal – a potential win for South Africa’s exports. However, Trump has since announced a hiking of the 10% global tariff to 15% in response, with other indication that he may simply ignore the court order.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Agricultural economists forecast an increase in South African exports to Middle Eastern and Asian markets, due to factors such as volume and market size.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new target for 2032 is to export 260 million cartons of citrus, which is 60 million more than current figures.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

South Africa\u2019s citrus industry achieved a record-breaking 2025 export season, shipping over 200 million 15kg cartons worldwide.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":753551,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[22559,24758],"class_list":["post-851134","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","tag-agriculture-minister-john-steenhuisen","tag-citrus-exports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/851134","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/127"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=851134"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/851134\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":851779,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/851134\/revisions\/851779"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/753551"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=851134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=851134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=851134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}