Two leading growers and exporters in different fields of fresh produce will spice up South Africa’s participation in next month’s Fruit Logistica in Berlin. The Karsten Group, the country’s leading grape producers-exporters will have its own stand for the first time, and the leading sub-tropical producer-exporter, Westfalia, hopes to advance its international business through its own exhibition too.
South Africa as a whole will be represented through a national pavilion which is being coordinated by the Fruit Exporters’ Forum. “All South African role players are welcome on the pavilion,” says the DFPT’s Michelle Kruger. “The meeting rooms are limited but there is more than enough space on the pavilion to do business for all South Africans.”
The South African fresh produce industry will head for Fruit Logistica this year on the back of a highly successful season and with the prospects of good crops in 2009. The early stone fruit season is already well underway and the early grape season in full swing. Late rains and cold have delayed the early season fruit, hampering efforts to deliver more fruit in the pre-Christmas period. However, with the mid-season grape regions kicking in, shipments of stone fruit and plums will peak soon.
The early predictions for apples an pears are good. Due to structural changes in the South African apple industry and the fact that a portion of the area previously planted with apples in the Elgin region has in recent years been converted to wine grapes, apple volumes have declined somewhat. Production is expected to remain stable for some time and industry sources predict that in terms of world demand for the South African, it will remain in an under supply situations for some years to come.
“In the Elgin Villiersdorp region we used to pack around 14 million mark four cartons, but this has now reduced to around 10 million,” says Dawie Rossouw, Capespan’s well-known industry coordinator in the region.
There is some unease, though, in the South African export industry because no-one really knows what the immediate and midterm effects of the credit crunch will be. Capespan’s Managing Director Niel Oosthuizen recently stated that retailers are unwilling to commit to long term supply plans, while Citrus Growers’ Association Executive Justin Chadwick told citrus growers that in 2009 it will be the best for the industry to cut export volumes by about ten million cartons. He pointed out that in 2008 growers did not make money from about 5-million cartons of the total export crop of close to 90 million cartons.
Stephan Conradie, Stone fruit industry spokesman, says retailers have ask for smaller weight sizes in punnets to be able to market smaller units and what is perceived to be better value packs to hard-pressed consumers.
These issues will be high on the agenda when the South African trade met with their European counterparts at Fruit Logistica. The stalls of both the Karsten Group and Westfalia are likely to draw much attention. Karsten, traditionally been a low key operator who prefers to do the business and talk later, will be exhibiting for the first time in association with one of it European partners. The Group will also launch its new Karsten brand.
Karsten now offers a wide range of products, which is still dominated to a large extend by table grapes from its farms in the Orange River region. The Karsten product range has in recent years also been expanded to apples and pears, onions, raspberries and blue berries, while this seasons sees the first significant crop of new high bush cherry varieties being harvested at the Hoogland Estate near Ceres. The Karsten Group also exports significant volumes of dates from the lower Orange River region.
Westaflia represents the pride of the South African sub-tropical industry with its avocadoes and mangoes dominating the exports of these two products. The company also has a large organic production and has expanded its wings around the world to source additional supply in order to extend its marketing season.
South Africa will host its pavilion at Fruit Logistica for the eight year after a modest start in 2001. The pavilion is funded by the South African government to promote the export industry and will feature the “South Africa - Alive with Possibility” slogan which is also being used for the first national plum promotion of the post regulation era which is being presented in Germany and the UK over the next two months. |
