South Africa’s Fresh Produce Exporters’ Forum (FPEF) has confirmed that South Africa’s official participation in Asia Fruit Logistica by way of a national pavilion has been cancelled.
“We could simply not raise the funds to participate by the time the organisers set for us and we regretably had to take the decision to cancel,” said FPEF’s CEO Anton Kruger.
Exporters have described the step as a huge setback for South Africa’s attempts to increase its presence in the Asian region and have placed the blame squarely on a lack of South African government support for the fresh produce export sector.
Kruger said the South African industry was forced to raise the money for participation in the Hong Kong trade fair amongst themselves after the South African Department of Trade and Industry (the dti) withdrew its support for the industry’s promotional support. “Growers and exporters already had to dig deep in their pockets to save South Africa’s pavilion in Berlin and it is understandable that they did not see their way clear to step in a gain the case of Hong Kong.”
He said South Africa’s entire focus will now be on Fruit Logistica in Berlin and the development of a financial model to secure the country’s participation there. “Even our limited support for the Moscow trade event will be reviewed as we go on from here,” he added.
While South Africa did participate in this year’s Fruit Logistica in Berlin, it was forced to dramatically reduce its participation after the dti pulled the funding plug barely three months before the start of the event. The South African export industry had to come to the party to save what could be saved.
The latest events will further strengthen the view that the South African government is not serious in the development of what is a critically important export sector. With the demand for South Africa’s fresh produce in the traditional markets stagnating in recent years, industry leaders have stated continuously that the future for the industry would have to be secured in the Asian region.
They had hoped that South Africa’s membership of the powerful new economic block, BRICS, which consists of Brazil, Russia, India China and South Africa, would provide strong breakthroughs in countries such as India and China. However, South African fresh produce hardly received a mention at the recent summit in India.
Coupled with the lack of capacity within the South African government to deal with market access issues, the role of the South African government as a partner in the fresh produce industry’s export strategy is now fast disappearing.
Kruger said the export industry will now have to look at its own resources if it wants to be part of future international events. “We will continue our discussions to see if we can develop such a sustainable longer term strategy,” he concluded.
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