The chief executive of South African company Capespan's fruit division has revealed the company expects to build on expected major growth in demand from emerging markets in Africa, Russia, Asia and the Middle East during the next few years.
Speaking exclusively to Eurofruit on the eve of this year's Eurofruit Congress Southern Hemisphere in Cape Town, Louis Kriel said the development of product sources outside South Africa and a recent unification of the group's branding strategy across different parts of the world was already reaping benefits and would serve as a strong foundation for future growth.
Recent changes to Capespan's corporate branding include changing the names of its Japan and North America subsidiaries fromGoldspan and Fisher Capespan to Capespan Japan andCapespan North America respectively.
The majority of Capespan Group Limited's management and operational activities have now taken up residence at a new office in Bellville near Cape Town, with Capespan Exports – now known as Capespan South Africa – the only division to remain at the group's previous headquarters just a couple of miles down the road at the Parc du Cap building.
'We have worked to become a customer-focused company, rather than a product-focused one,' he explained. 'In the next few years we want to expand into new markets. We expect to see growth in markets to the east and in our trading markets – Russia, Middle East and Africa – with double-digit growth from all sources.'
Those sources include Egypt, a country now firmly established as part of Capespan's international grape and citrus programmes.
Closer to home, Kriel suggested opportunities for selling more fruit to customers in Africa were likely to present themselves more and more.
'We're very excited about the prospects in Africa itself,' he said. 'There's far more stability in the region and we are seeing tremendous potential across southern, eastern and western Africa in particular.'
Eurofruit holds its annual Eurofruit Congress Southern Hemisphere in Cape Town this week, from 17-19 October. More details atwww.eurofruitcongress.com/sh
