This week, we’re pleased to highlight Mayda Sotomayor-Kirk and her journey with Summer Citrus from South Africa.
Mayda has played an integral role in our program since it’s inception more than 25 years ago, and she has honestly seen the good, the bad and the ugly. In the earlier years, she was instrumental in establishing a category for imported citrus on the East Coast. She is very familiar with our growers, the product, and all our service providers as well as the retailers buying our fruit. She has seen how we’ve managed multiple challenges, and how it has continually made us stronger. She’s also played a huge role in guiding us through the many challenges we faced as we expanded our footprint in the US.
Please enjoy this video elaborating on Mayda’s journey with the citrus growers from South Africa.
Our entire import team has been an important part of our success. This industry has remained very traditional and relationships are the cornerstones of everything we do. In her video, Mayda emphasizes how it took – and still does take – everyone coming together to make it work. Together, we find solutions to our challenges, and many-a-time, this has resulted into significant sustained growth.
We are very proud of the flow of information we maintain with our US partners which has allowed us to speak with one voice when talking to the trade and helps us all make informed decisions. This program into the US is often referred to as “special” due to the requirements of entering the US. However, it remains “special” because of the people that make this a success. We are a well-recognized model of collaboration around the globe!
From the production side, we are on schedule and we will arrive into the US in early June with ±180 containers, these are mostly Easy Peelers. The MSC Carmen is our first vessel into Philly directly, from then onwards we will have weekly arrivals either with containers or our dedicated conventional vessels.
We are now in a period where we have heavy rainfall, which is very typical for our winter season, and we expect a slightly delayed supply-chain.
Please stay up to date with us our 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!
Thank you for the continued support!
Suhanra Conradie
CEO – Summer Citrus from South Africa
suhanra@summercitrus.com
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