INTRODUCTION

From its humble beginnings in 1924, the Sundays River Citrus Company (Pty) Ltd (SRCC), previously known as the Sundays River Citrus Co-operative, has grown to become the largest packer and marketer of citrus in southern Africa. From the 20,000 cartons packed in its first year, SRCC and its grower shareholders have managed to increase their production to the record of 8,5 million cartons that was packed and exported during the 2006 season (12% of this total represents South African citrus crop!).

In spite of its size, SRCC prides itself in being a flexible, proactive and dynamic company. Having recognized the threat of increasingly competitive market conditions resulting from the growth of both local and global production volumes, SRCC has moved its focus away from increasing volume to increasing value. SRCC therefore places a lot of emphasis on differentiating itself and the products of its producers on all levels. This is being achieved through investing in value-adding activities such as pre-packing and cooling capacity as well as through the active development of niche products such as organic citrus.

From a social responsibility perspective, SRCC has taken on the dual challenge of Land Reform and Black Economic Empowerment with the launch of a challenging and ground breaking Public Private Partnership. Through this project SRCC aims to, with the active support of Government and its Growers, transfer at least 30% of the productive land currently delivering to SRCC into the hands of Previously Disadvantaged Individuals within the next 4 years. Structures have also been put in place to ensure that the necessary skills to farm the newly acquired properties get transferred to the Beneficiaries of the project.