Exports had increased by more than 27% in 2020, despite the impact of Covid-19, said Justin Mudge, chairperson of BerriesZA, indicating that crop size had grown from less than 1800 tons in 2015 to over 15 000 tons. And it is only the beginning.
Elzette Schutte, operational manager at BerriesZA, said a predicted 5000 hectares would be harvested by 2024, with exports of nearly 50 000 tons expected. “The goal is to double this by 2020 when there will be 10 000 hectares planted in the country. We expect to export around 100 000 tons,”
According to Mudge, berries are a success story because of investment into the product over the last five years. “This is based on know-how and technical leadership from the main supply chains, as well as the good genetics that South African producers have available.
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“The outlook is still good and we expect to see at least double-digit growth in exports on an annual basis for the foreseeable future, based on continued investment and improvements on all the production metrics, be that tons per hectare or quality.”This, he said, was predicated on the ability to exploit new markets. Growth had slowed down in the United Kingdom, but there was expansion in Europe, Far East and Middle East. “But we really need to see the undeveloped markets growing significantly for South African producers to exploit that opportunity.
Industry growth in the next 10 years could be as big as 10 000 hectares, which translates into 100 000 tons of exports, worth R10 billion in foreign revenue, and a potential 100 000 harvest employment opportunities.”Commenting on markets, Mudge told Freight News the UK, which had previously been the biggest market, was expected to retain its volume share while slow organic growth would continue.
“We expect significant growth in Europe over the coming seasons as penetration levels increase and more people buy South African blueberries. And then really the major growth opportunities are east of South Africa where we would look to target Far East countries like China, South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, and other South East Asian countries. We would really like to exploit those opportunities, but there are some challenges with market access that we need to overcome
”He said the biggest challenge that berry exporters faced was that it remained a relatively new commodity, and exporters had not learnt all the lessons yet in supplying customers across the globe.
“There is still a large degree of market alignment that must take place between the South African supply and the final customer.
