Roy Jeffery, Capespan director and chairman of the board of Capespan's Stone Fruit Division said that the volumes of trees in the Stellenbosch region, once the heartland of the plum industry, had been dramatically reduced and the cultivar, Harry Pickstone, once a major volume cultivar had all but disappeared.

But the exporter is hoping to reverse the trend. Jeffery said: 'We are busy planting more stone fruit this year. We are removing non-producing orchards and replacing them with what we see as the cultivars for the future. We have had a fairly good season, especially with the product that we have packed ourselves, where we had total control over the production, packing and marketing aspects.' Grower clubs, allied to a product development organisation are also proving successful and aim to identify superior cultivars, growing them on a limited basis with enough volume to meet expected demand.

Jeffery added that he was confident of the demand for their product provided that the specifications and quality were right. He said 'We are the natural southern hemisphere suppliers to Europe and we can supply the demand that exists in this region.'

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