South African fruit sales in Asia have the potential to double in the next three years said Colors Fruit managing director of Riaan van Wyk following an extensive visit to the region, which included a visit to Asia Fruit Logistica in Hong Kong.
“We were again impressed with the growth of the middle class in the region and there is clearly a quick assimilation of Western concepts, which means that the consumers are always willing to try new things,” he said. “I believe South Africa has tremendous potential in the region and I will be surprised if we do not see huge growth there over the next three years.”
Mr Van Wyk said Colors Fruit had the fundamentals in place to pursue a new era of growth following a year in which the company re-engineered itself to meet the ever increasing demands of the fast changing international fresh produce market.
A year ago Colors Fruit had to come to terms with the sudden departure of some of its executives. This resulted in a loss of momentum and occurred shortly after a 14-year period in which Colors Fruit maintained its position amongst South Africa’s leading exporters, driving innovative new concepts and setting new standards, particularly in its high returns back to the farm and service delivery sectors.
“Yes, we lost some volume and it took some time to adjust,” said Mr van Wyk. “Now we are ready to grow and we have all the fundamentals in place to re-establish our former position in the South African fresh produce industry.”
Underpinning this new confidence is not only the establishment of a young and innovative team, but also various levels of partnerships, which will support future growth.
“We are basing our growth philosophy on new thinking and developing new solutions, bringing a range of new cultivars and products into play, developing new grower partnerships and providing the kind of guarantees to growers which will allow them to invest with confidence in their own production,” said Mr van Wyk.
Central to Colors Fruit’s ability undertake its future strategy is its partnership with Farmsecure, the agri investment company that is also a shareholder in Colors Fruit. “Colors Fruit and Farmsecure are a perfect fit,” said Farmsecure’s Chantal Yazbek. “We believe in helping to create sustainable and profitable businesses in agriculture and therefore invest in the value chain to support this vision. Colors Fruit fits perfectly into our value chain. The services which we bring to the company, without interfering in each other’s operations, will play a major role in the strategy for growth,” she added.
Mr van Wyk said Colors Fruit’s partnership with Farmsecure had brought renewed focus into its activities. “We will follow the recipes that worked in the past, while adding the many strengths that Farmsecure bring to the table,” said Mr van Wyk. “My experience of the fruit business is that it is extremely fast moving, highly complex, but without being that difficult to master.”
He said the enthusiasm and skills of the highly motivated young team would achieve just that. “They are not frightened to challenge the status quo in order to bring new thinking to the table and we will benefit from that.”
Mr van Wyk said Colors Fruit is now well positioned in its recovery process. “The company is strong because it has strong backing and can roll out these unique new partnerships with growers. These are our first formal partnerships with growers and are best reflected in the work we have been doing with stone fruit producers.”
Committees had been set up with the company’s stone fruit partners to cover technical issues, packing operations and supply of packaging material, cost chain management and marketing, said Mr van Wyk. “We make joint decisions without interfering in each other’s sphere of expertise.”
The company’s services would be available to grape, apple and pear, and citrus producers in the future.
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