Update on the 2025 Summer Citrus Season
“I don’t need easy, I just need possible.”
– Bethany Hamilton, American Professional Surfer & Shark Attack Survivor
Earlier in March, a group of South African growers attended the SEPC’s Southern Exposure in Orlando FL. Myself, Boet Mouton, Stiaan Engelbrecht and Gerrit van der Merwe were all on our own mission, but with one mutual goal: proudly shipping and selling the world’s finest Summer Citrus.
I must compliment SEPC for bringing the decision makers to the show and allowing us (as attendees) valuable facetime and various opportunities for engagement and business conversations.
As we are serving the world’s most demanding market, I especially appreciated the keynote speaker at Saturday’s brunch, Bethany Hamilton. Her famous saying of “I don’t need easy, I just need possible,” rings true with our group who is continuously moving forward and achieving exceptional milestones. There is no doubt that we have had our hardships, but it’s through the “possible” that we are able to provide quality product to the U.S. for over 25 years.
From our side, March and April are very important months, as we plan all aspects throughout the total supply chain, based on the demand for the U.S. market.
From a production point of view, we expect a very normal crop, with sufficient supply of citrus to adhere to the demand of the market during the summer months in the U.S. Our mission is to complement local production, when otherwise unavailable.
As per usual, we’ll most likely arrive in the U.S. with some Clementines towards the end of May/early June, and some July, and then moving onto later Mandarin varieties. Navel varieties could start to arrive from mid-June onwards and Star Ruby from end June/early July.
We pride ourselves on our superior eating quality, our sophisticated supply-chain, our real-time communication, and our trusted partners.
A lot has been said regarding the tariffs, but it is normal that any tariff could have an impact on any kind of trade. In terms of the Summer Citrus from South Africa program, we can state the following: We have sufficient supply to adhere to the retail demand from our product and we are confident regarding:
- the exceptional eating qualify of our fruit
- our reliable and sophisticated supply-chain
- the support and collaboration from all our service providers
It is now for all the individual and relevant parties to make the economics work!
Please stay up-to-date during the season and reach to out to our grower-exporters or importers to secure your citrus during the summer months.
Proudly shipping and selling the world’s finest Summer Citrus,
Suhanra Conradie
CEO – Summer Citrus from South Africa
suhanra@summercitrus.com
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