One of only a handful of citrus cooperatives left in South Africa, Morone Sitrus' sixty-ninth year of growing citrus was characterised by a continued steady pull for late mandarins as well as Valencia types, from east to west.
"I've never experienced the Northern Hemisphere's markets to be as empty as they were this year," says Dirk Winterbach, operations manager of Morone Sitrus. The cooperative represents the interests of citrus growers in the Watervalsriviervallei, a 30 km-long valley where nine production units provide the citrus packed at one of the oldest citrus packhouses in the Burgersfort-Ohrigstad area.
© Morone Sitrus
Chinini Nkozi surveys the intake
Where once vegetables and grain were grown, South Africa's earliest late mandarins flourish along with almost forty-year-old Satsumas orchards still bearing export fruit. Burgersfort turned out to be paradise for soft citrus, and today over 90% of the orchards in this district are easy peelers: Satsumas, Orris, clementines, Leanri, and Nadorcotts.
Burgersfort's cold winters lower pest pressure and make for brightly coloured fruit, which earns them a premium.
Six years ago, the Burgersfort-Ohrigstad district was recognised as a separate region within the Citrus Growers' Association: this is one of the fastest-growing citrus production areas in the country, Winterbach remarks. Nadorcott packing is ending this week, and then only late Valencia types are left.
Core Fruit handles the international marketing of their citrus. The last Valencias will be spread widely across Europe, to Africa and to Russia. "Although the juice price for Valencias dropped, the demand for exports remains constant with even higher expected prices than last year," he says.
Morone Sitrus is a stockholder of the Granor Passi juice concentrate factory in Polokwane.
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Mandarin export growth to Russia
Because Burgersfort is so very early on late mandarins, 10 to 15% of their mandarins are shipped to China to take advantage of the high early-season prices.
Mandarin prices in the Middle East have recently come under pressure as a result of high volumes, he says, but they're seeing demand pick up after the South African industry restrained exports for some weeks.
Europe still takes more than 40% of the mandarins grown by Morone's stakeholders. He remarks that Europe's fixed programmes offer a steady counterpoint when dollar markets are under pressure. Combating citrus black spot is their overriding aim. The punitive implications of an interception of citrus black spot or false codling moth in a shipment to Europe are profound: the particular production unit is struck off the list for exports for that season and the following two seasons.
"We don't send to the USA at all because we're a black spot area, but if the Western Cape were to start moving into our footprint because of the high tariffs, it could create a problem. Russia is extremely important for us as an alternative to Europe," he says. Russia is not fixated on citrus black spot, and they ship a full array of citrus varieties there from February through to September.
Winterbach credits Core Fruit for developing the Russian market over the past few years. "Over the past three years, there has been incredible growth in mandarins."
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Morone Sitrus earns consumer loyalty
South Africans buying their mandarins from independent greengrocers will know the name of Morone Sitrus. They have a strong footprint through supplying municipal markets with Nadorcotts under their own brand, which has over many years become a trusted and well-known name in 'naartjies', as South Africans call easy peelers.
"The local distribution of our fruit is equally important to us, even if it doesn't match the returns we get from exports. We supply around 15 to 18% of our total crop to local markets. We've won the trust of our end consumers, and we earn a premium through the quality of our product, bolstered by the long periods that our fruit is available, from March until September."
Morone Sitrus also supplies retailer Woolworths with all soft citrus varieties (except for Nadorcott, Woolworths' flagship fruit brand).
© Morone Sitrus
For more information:
Dirk Winterbach
Morone Sitruskoöperasie
Tel: +27 13 231 7325
Email: [email protected]/ [email protected]
