South African producer and exporter of citrus, the Gogo Group has opened a R100 million packing facility in Groblersdal, Mpumalanga capable of international export.

Advanced machinery, robotics and technology inside the 8 000m² facility ensures fully automated classification and fruit sorting. Some 300 people are employed on a permanent basis, with around 90 tonnes of fruit packed an hour.

The company produces and exports citrus including lemons and various varieties of oranges, as well as table grapes to Canada, Europe, the Middle East, India, Bangladesh, the Far East and South East Asia and employs around 2 200 people across its various operations.

The Group has a 9 500m² refrigerated storing and sterilisation facility on site, to ensure constant temperature control of around -1.5°C in order to meet Chinese quality regulations.

It also means an uninterrupted cold chain from the time of packing to the fruit being exported from the Durban harbour.