South Africa's citrus sector, boosted by new technology and favourable conditions, has overtaken Spain as the top global exporter, promising growth despite rising agricultural costs.

South Africa's ailing economy just got a welcome shot of vitamin C.

Recently released data showed that in 2025, South Africa surpassed Spain for the first time as the world's No 1 citrus exporter, and crop failures in key Northern Hemisphere regions such as Florida provide low-hanging fruit that the country needs to grasp and squeeze.

South Africa's citrus industry in 2025 packed and shipped a record 204 million 15kg cartons of fruit, a 24% increase on the 164.5 million cartons shipped in 2024. For 2026, the Citrus Growers' Association's (CGA's) latest estimate sees that rising to 209.5 million, though this may be trimmed due to flood damage that could reduce the Eastern Cape crop by up to 15%.

South Africa also managed to overtake Spain on this front because of poor weather and structural issues, such as ageing orchards, in that country, which caused a decline in yields. Spanish export volumes were down by 10%, and the 2.9 million tonnes that South Africa exported was marginally higher than the Spanish total.

It is an impressive achievement and testimony to investments in new orchards and simple but costly technology such as netting made by South African growers, which...