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Season calendar

South Africa mandarin export season

Mandarin season in South Africa: April–August, with March and September at the shoulders. Lands April–September via South Africa → Rotterdam.

Ships
April–August
March, September at the shoulders
Lands
week 16–38
on the South Africa → Rotterdam run, 16–22 days
South Africa mandarins: the export window by month, and the weeks each lane lands it.
Stage Month
Ships out of South Africa Ships april–august peak · march, september shoulder
South Africa → Rotterdam 16–22 days · week 16–38 Lands week 16–38 on the South Africa → Rotterdam run
South Africa → United Kingdom 16–22 days · week 16–38 Lands week 16–38 on the South Africa → United Kingdom run
Peak Shoulder Landing Port to port, across services rather than one schedule. Add the road leg at either end.

Varieties Nadorcott, Tango, Clemenules, Orri Load ports Cape Town, Durban, and Gqeberha

Roughly March to September. South African easy-peelers have grown faster than any other part of its citrus basket, driven by European retail moving away from loose oranges.

The season has two humps rather than one. Exports usually start around week 11 in March and can run to week 44 in early November. They peak twice, in weeks 19–23 (May and June) and again in weeks 27–34 (July and August). Satsumas and Clementines lead the early weeks. Nadorcott and Tango, now the largest export varieties, dominate the middle and the end of the season, with Orri and Leanri among the other late mandarins.

Where the fruit grows explains the order. The Western Cape has 38% of the soft citrus area, Limpopo 28% and the Eastern Cape 25%, and the cooler Cape regions suit Clementines and Satsumas. By area, Nadorcott is almost 18% of plantings, Arccit 9 17% and Tango 15%. Most of the fruit leaves close to where it grows: 48% of mandarins go through Cape Town and 34% through Durban.

Volume has grown fast. In 2025 South Africa shipped a record 53.5 million 15 kg cartons of mandarins, 28% more than the year before. For 2026 the Citrus Growers’ Association estimated 30.5 million cartons of Nadorcott and Tango alone. The EU and the UK take 44% of soft citrus exports, with Russia, the UAE and the United States behind. The US has charged a 30% tariff on South African mandarins since August 2025.

They ship at the front of the citrus season, ahead of the Valencia volume, which means they are on the water in the weeks before the worst of the port congestion rather than during it.

The carrying temperature is set by protocol, not by the exporter’s preference. PPECB’s codes for soft citrus in containers to Europe and the UK run from -1°C to 4°C. The setpoint is held for 30 days from terminal gate-in and then raised to 4°C until discharge. The US accepts citrus only from areas free of citrus black spot: the Western and Northern Cape and parts of the Free State and North West. It also requires a 22-day cold treatment against false codling moth. Black spot is also the EU risk. In September 2025 South Africa voluntarily suspended citrus exports to the EU to avoid further interceptions.

Weather and ports move the season. In September 2026 the association cut its total citrus estimate to 197.9 million cartons, from 209.4 million in April. It cited early rain damage in Limpopo and Mpumalanga and floods in the Western and Eastern Cape. It also cited war on the Middle East routes, which normally take about a fifth of the crop, and port bottlenecks.

Sources

Last reviewed August 2026. Editorial ranges for a normal year, not a published schedule. Weather moves them, sometimes by weeks.

Mandarin season across every origin · Everything South Africa ships

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