Gerrit van der Merwe, chairman of the Western Cape Citrus Producers Forum

Gerrit van der Merwe, WCCPF chairman

South Africa's Western Cape Citrus Producers Forum (WCCPF) has reported that navellates – or late navels – will soon be available in the US.

After four weeks of summer citrus this year, four ships have arrived in the US from South Africa and more are scheduled to dock every ten days for the remainder of the season.

Gerrit van der Merwe, the WCCPF's chairman, attributed the season's successful start to the particular qualities of South African citrus that appeal to US consumers: 'Size matters and South Africa delivers, but it is meaningless without flavour and the good news is our fruit delivers that too.'

The WCCPF consortium includes around 350 growers who are eligible to export summer citrus to the US.