The South African Citrus Growers Association (CGA) said the CGA will develop a series of plans in the next two months to achieve its goal of producing, packing, distributing and selling 260 million boxes of citrus by 2032, a new CGA Council 260 vision to be adopted by the South African citrus industry at its annual meeting in mid-March.

Over the past few years, the CGA has talked about the main goal of reaching 200 million boxes by 2025, so the industry will have to export an additional 40 million boxes over the next few years. Exporting 260 million cases by 2032 would mean increasing exports by at least 10 million cases per year between now and 2032.

In the first few months of 2023, the CGA will meet with stakeholders across the chain to present the long-term model's projections, explain the nine projects that will drive capacity and skills development, and the action plan to achieve Vision 260.

China has become a major importer of South African citrus, the CGA said in its 2022 report. more than 130,000 tonnes of South African citrus were exported to China in the 2020/21 season (6% of total South African citrus exports). in the 2021/22 season, this figure reached a record 162,809 pallets, an increase of 24% over the previous season. The most significant growth was seen in oranges and grapefruit, with orange exports almost doubling.