Citrus Orchards

  • All SONAC citrus farms are EurepGap certified by SGS.
  • In the south of the Mediterranean, one of the big spots of citrus production in the world; there is Egypt.
  • In Egypt, SONAC located its Orchards in the most suitable and productive areas like Wadi EL Molak & Salheya (east of the Nile Delta).
  • Where the shining sun and moderate weather forms a vinous nature for Egyptian citrus.
  • Our area is 4000 Fdns. cultivated with (Navel, Sweet, Valencia, Baladi and Lemons).
  • In our farms we follow the latest techniques in cultivation, irrigation, treatment bearing in mind all good agriculture practice.
  • We operate with a very good tractability coded system.
  • It's all in a simple label on every carton SONAC delivers.
  • SONAC is reclaiming at the moment new lands with new varieties (citrus & easy peelers).
  • We always keep our eyes on the latest regulations in our clients' markets.

Citrus Orchards & Packing Lines

  • SONAC now operates three packing lines in the company's complex near Alexandria for selecting, waxing, sizing and packing citrus fruits with a total capacity of 100 tons/hr combined.
  • Thanks to the Spanish and Italian technique in our packing lines, ensuring for every single Orange a delicate and soft handling till it's loaded.
  • SONAC installed the latest automatic palletizes in every packing line and self glue cartons machines for automatic forming of machines.
  • A full maintenance plan is designed for every packing line separately, EU experts are involved and updating year after year with their latest innovation in the industry.
  • Being a market driven company, SONAC installed its first two degreening rooms in 2002, now after its success, we have four degreening rooms in our packing houses.
  • We carefully adapted all our operations to fully comply and to keep our environment, along with a hygiene plan that is strictly followed by all company's management and labors.

Citrus Varieties

The Citrus specification such as Brix, Acidity, Ratio and Juice for Varieties Note - Brix is defined as the total solids saluted in the liquid. Vitamin C mg is defined as vitamin C mg per 100 milliliter of juice.

 

Determination Month Brix Acidity juice Vitamin. C mg / 100 ml of Juice Ratio
Navel Nov. 11.2 1.05 47.0 68.6 10.7:1
Dec. 12.2 0.76 48.5 70.5 16.05:1
Jan. 11.8 0.76 53.3 72.08 15.7:1
Feb. 1.6 0.91 50.0 69.81 12.7:1
Mar. 11.8 0.67 53.5 68.3 17.6:1
             
Sukkari Dec. 10.8 0.15 50.5 68.8 ---
Jan. 12.6 0.1 58.3 71.7 ---
             
Lemons Nov. 9.2 7.6 50.8 73.8 1.2:1
Dec. 9.6 8.2 48.5 74.5 1.17:1
             
Baladi Dec. 11.4 1.0 58.3 69.8 11.4:1
Jan. 12.2 1.1 53.4 72.3 11:1
Feb. 11.2 1.33 56.2 68.2 8.4:1
             
Valencia  Feb. 11.2 1.33 56.2 68.2 8.4:1
Mar. 11.8 1.2 58.6 70.8 9.8:1
Apr. 11.8 1.1 54.8 68.3 10.7:1
May 12.2 1.1 55.6 67.8 11.09:1

 

Container Capacities

Container Capacities of Citrus Cartons for 20" & 40" Reefers:

Carton net weight 40" 20"
Palletized Non-Palletized

 Palletized Non-Palletized
15 kgs (telescopic) 1600 1700 800 850
15 kgs (opentop) 1300 N/A 650 N/A
8 kgs 2800 3000 1400 1400
7.5 kgs 3000 3200 1500 1500
20 kgs 1200 1350 600 650

Citrus Packaging

All citrus fruits produced by SONAC are washed, waxed, treated and 50% wrapped. 

Weight of Carton 7 Kg  8 Kg  15 Kg  20 Kg 
Counts per Carton 80 90 162 ---
70 80 150 183
60 70 138 162
54 60 125 150
48 54 113 138
42 48 100 125
36 42 88 113
32 36 80 100
27 32 72 88
--- 27 64 80
--- 23 56 72
--- --- 48 64
--- --- 40 56