The South African citrus industry has said that it is determined to further increase the marketing of its products across the US, giving consumers across all states access to its high quality fruit.
'We are delighted with our efforts to market more of our fruit on the West Coast and in the Midwest region,' said Gerrit van der Merwe, chairman of the Western Cape Citrus Producers' Forum, an organisation promoting the orderly marketing and promotion of South African citrus fruit in the US.
Mr Van der Merwe said that last season, South Africa sold 20 per cent of its fruit on the West Coast and 15 per cent in Midwest states. 'This year, we will be aggressively marketing our products in these regions in order to move our sales there to 50 per cent of our total sales in the United States,' he noted. 'This will be done by taking market share away from other Southern Hemisphere competitors and introducing innovations in our supply chain which will benefit both the US trade and consumers.'
According to Mr Van der Merwe, South African growers have already reaped the benefits of expanding to the West Coast and Midwest regions in 2009. 'Despite increased competition from Chile and a tougher economic climate, we did well and this is entirely due to our marketing presence across the United States. By all accounts our competitors did rather poorly.'
He added that the South African industry would not shy away from competition, and would take on its Southern Hemisphere competitors by delivering better products and giving the kind of service to the US trade that would contribute to expanding sales.
'During 2009 we showed again that we can regularly deliver fruit of the highest quality throughout the season,' Mr Van der Merwe explained. 'We also saw the value of strong relationships with the leading US supermarkets. These supermarkets are increasingly doing direct business with our growers. We are looking at all aspects of the supply chain to assist both growers and their customers with the most cost effective and efficient supply chain.'
South Africa is expected to export around 50,000 tonnes of citrus to the US this year. 'This will enable us to grow our business by 20 per cent on the West Coast and in the Midwest,' he said. 'This will contribute an additional US$85m to the rural economy of South Africa where we have a huge community of people depending on citrus growing for their livelihood.'
New initiatives in 2010 supporting the export programme to the US include the option of using smaller conventional reefer vessels, ensuring a more efficient container programme. 'With the support of the USDA and APHIS the cold steri protocol which will apply in 2010 has been amended,' Mr Van der Merwe noted. 'The cold steri period has been reduced from 24 days to 22 days. This will have an immediate effect on our fruit.'
Mr Van der Merwe outlined the fact that The South African industry remained totally committed to the USDA’s protocols. 'Good farming practices are combining with a very successful XSIT programme to reduce the risk False Codling Moth pose to our industry. We want to acknowledge the USDA and APHIS support to make this export programme possible.”
According to Mr Van der Merwe, there is a mood of optimism amongst growers who pack their fruit for the US market. 'Growers are investing in new orchards specifically for this market and they are planting new high-value cultivars such as Valley Gold to boost late season marketing. There is a good possibility that we will be able to export pigmented grapefruit from the Orange River this season and this will naturally boost our product range.'
The expansion of the export programme to the US is not only boosting existing growers and those who work for them, however. 'Fourteen partnership projects where farm workers have become co-owners form part of the export programme,' he added. 'Three more projects are now in the process of development and this makes a crucial contribution to the transformation of South African society as envisaged by our new democracy.'
Meanwhile, Mr Van der Merwe explained that the South African industry is also investing in youth in the US. 'For the past two years we have been sponsoring youth soccer tournaments in the US. This year this project will also have new significance because South Africa is opening its doors to welcome the world for the 2010 Soccer World Cup,' he said. 'We welcome all US citizens who travel to our country for this major event. We hope they can also visit our growing regions where we specially select and pack our citrus fruit for the US market.'
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