South Africa, on Friday, announced this year’s first break-bulk vessel shipment of citrus to China and Japan amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Baltic Patriot Vessel will leave South Africa later on Friday with 4,521 tons of grape fruit and lemons destined for Chinese and Japanese markets, the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development said in a statement.
The fruit harvesting, sorting, washing, transportation, inspection, loading and related aspects were conducted by essential workers during the COVID-19 lockdown, the department said.
Given the challenges posed by COVID-19, the department continues to engage with trading partners to ensure export programmes proceed as planned, department Media Liaison Officer, Reggie Ngcobo, said.
The department calls upon all farmers, farm workers, pack house workers, inspectors, drivers and everyone in the agriculture and food value chain to observe the COVID-19 hygiene and social distancing measures in the quest to grow the economy and feed the people, both locally and internationally, Ngcobo said.
The citrus industry continues to be one of South Africa’s critical industries that creates 160,000 direct jobs and earns approximately 20 billion rands (about $1 billion) from exports only.
South Africa exports two million tons of citrus annually, making it the second highest global exporter of citrus.
Citrus comprises of oranges, lemons, grapefruit and soft citrus.
The country exported four shipments of citrus in 2019, which was a historical year as the South African citrus industry marked its maiden break-bulk shipment of citrus through a specialised reefer vessel to China and Japan.
