“Citrus season is always an exciting time,” says Tiaan Steyn, commercial director and head of citrus at Star South, “involving seven kinds of citrus comprising 25 different varietals, the growing regions of six different countries and the markets of five different continents, making this an exceptionally busy season at Star South.”
Star South offers citrus year-round (photos supplied by Star South)
From December to March, Star South imports fruit including pomelo grapefruit, soft citrus and oranges from Turkey and Spain. Star South incorporates both Star South Fruits, based in Wellington, South Africa, and Star South International in Ridderkerk, The Netherlands.
The South African citrus season is now in full swing and the country’s diverse climate allows different growing regions to overlap, resulting in a continual supply of citrus to clients the world over, he notes.
“The season kicked off early this year, during March, beginning with lemon harvests and packing in the regions of Mpumalanga and Limpopo, where weekly rains posed a challenge but activities still produced decent volumes for packing and shipping,” he says.
Navels and early Valencias kick off
“Star Ruby grapefruit and early navels followed, while the season shifted to the Eastern Cape with another early harvest of lemons and soft citrus. The baton then passed to the Western Cape region, where they are full steam ahead with lemons and mandarins. During the month of June the packing of Star Ruby will be finishing up, and it is then time to kick off navels and most Valencia types (Turkey, Bennie, Alpha and Midknight) as well as the Nadorcott/ARCCIT9 mandarin.”
Late Navels will start in July, but the packing of Nadorcott/ARCCIT mandarins and all Valencia type oranges will continue.
Chris du Preez, product coordinator for Limpopo at Star South
Based in Wellington, South Africa, Star South is strategically positioned for this demanding season through the company’s expansive business activities which serve local producers and distributors, as well as international exporters and importers across the fruit industry and cover the retail, wholesale and processing sectors.
“The best citrus varietals are sourced worldwide and shipped worldwide but while the scale of supply is vast, shipments are still tailored, meeting each individual client’s needs in both quality and quantity with a steady supply of fruit,” Tiaan says.
For more information on their citrus, contact Tiaan Steyn at tiaan@starsouth.co.za.
Creating connection
While the farms are busy with harvest, sorting and packing, Star South works behind the scenes – year-round – planning, aligning logistics and networking to ensure that the citrus gets to store shelves fresh and on time – completing the journey from the farm to table in perfect condition. Cultivating strong relationships within their network is of the utmost importance.
Jaco Rheeder, founder and managing director of Star South, elaborates: “It’s so rewarding to see each person’s careful work contribute towards produce of the highest quality. It’s a team effort – only made possible with the help of our optimised supply chain. But Star South is more than just a supply chain; we like to say it’s a life cycle. And at the heart of it all, relationships are everything. So we’re passionate about creating connections – connecting good people with good prices and good, wholesome produce.”
Equally, as a continually growing company, Star South seeks to connect with potential employees with a solid work ethic and a passion for the industry.
The latest vacancies can be found on their website at www.starsouth.co.za/careers. For more information on career opportunities, contact Wilzaan Wium at wilzaan@starsouth.co.za.
For more information:
Star South
Tel: +27 21 864 3655
https://www.starsouth.co.za/