In minibus, somewhere between Cairo and Alexandria in Egypt, Piet Karsten once described the running of his fruit farming business as similar as piloting a jumbo jet. Once you have loaded the passengers and cargo and have taken off, you need to keep the nose up, keep flying, refuel in the air and never touch down – because if you do, you may never get up in the air again.
Since this discussion took place, the Karsten Group has managed to keep ‘flying’ and Piet Karsten has built one of the worlds most successful fruit farming businesses. What started out in a modest way with a few hectares of vineyards on the banks of South Africa’s Orange River 30 years ago has expanded to include the production of dates, citrus fruit, melons and water melons.
The vineyards are located over a distance of 250 kilometres from Klein Pella on the Namibian border in the west, to Kanoneiland near Upington in the East. Further to the South, in the Western Cape region, apples, pears, plums, cherries, blue berries and onions have been added to the product range. Highly productive farms with modern and state of the art packing facilities are now supported by a logistical and marketing infra-structure which allows the Group to deliver its products to customers from Beijing to London.
The Karsten Group has not only kept ‘flying’, but it has added new flight plans to its schedule. In doing so it has helped to reshape the way in which the modern fruit export business is conducted. Back in 2002, when the South African grape business was practically on its knees in the chaos which reigned in the aftermath of deregulation, Piet Karsten sensed that in future there would be a time when business would be conducted directly between growers and customers.
What followed was a period in which the Karsten Group focused on building its own capacity rather than expecting someone else in the value chain to take responsibility for its products once it leaves the farm gate. “It was not an easy time and it brought us into conflict with the past and the institutions which grew out of the previous era.”
Along with building own capacity, there was the belief that in order to do business with the leading customers in the world, supply seasons needed to be extended and new products added. That is why Piet Karsten came to Egypt – to source grapes for late season marketing, during May and June, when the South African season ended. That is also the reason why he developed strong relations with grape suppliers in South America.
Piet Karsten is reluctant to talk about success. “The fruit business has a way of keeping you humble and what has been achieved is due to commitment, hard work and attention to detail by everyone involved with our business.”
The Karsten Group has earned its position as South Africa’s leading grape exporter through constant focus on meeting commitments, loyalty to customers and remaining in control of cost along the value chain.
“This has helped the Group to remain competitive in an increasingly competitive world and despite the recent tough economic conditions across the world,” says Herman Engelbrecht, Managing Director of Karsten UK, which is responsible for the Group’s distribution and service delivery in the United Kingdom and Europe.
According to Mr Engelbrecht Karsten has established an experienced and streamlined supply chain for all its products. This includes Karsten Farms, the South African farming operations, Karsten Middle East, the farming and packing operations in Egypt, New Vision Fruit, the South African marketing company, Horizon Fruit, which handles the Group’s logistics, Karsten UK, the company dealing with distribution and service provision in the UK and Europe and Newfresh, a marketing and distribution company for products exported to the Far East.
He says the Group’s answer to questions around food security and safety is to control the growing operations, logistical operations and supply operations. “Our Group is committed to a small number of clients in the UK, Europe and the Far East. We are able to support these clients with an ever growing basket of fruit – grapes, dates, cherries
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