Making the grade - Peter Lucas, service technician from New Zealand’s Compac Sorting Equipment, with the top of the range Compac InVision Optical System which provides dimension sizing, colour and blemish grading accuracy. Ray Smuts AN EAGERNESS to do business with South Africa was evidenced by nine foreign countries exhibiting at the 8th Wine Farmers and Fruit Growers Expo held at Cape Town’s spanking new International Convention Centre recently. It was by all accounts the biggest and best to date in the Mother City and, while not on par with some of those huge global expositions, even the visitors from foreign climes were impressed. There was everything to hold the attention of wine and fruit producers; corks, labels, packaging, stainless steel tanks, bottles, grape harvesting machines, tractors and even the latest luxury 4x4s. One of the exhibits attracting the most attention was New Zealand’s Compac In-Vision Optical System, a high-speed computerised line sorter providing dimension sizing, colour and blemish grading accuracy. Mike Hogan, g.m. for H G Molenaar Agriculture, recently appointed South African agents for Compac Sorting Equipment, says the first Compac system - and the top in the range at that - has been sold to Letsitele citrus grower and exporter C P Minnaar for R2 million. Show director Susan Smith ascribes enthusiasm for the expo, which was attended by 165 companies, to the new venue, favourable exchange rates for buyers of new equipment and a surge in innovation.
