Jas plays leading role in blooming flower export market

RAY SMUTS UNLIKE DIAMONDS fresh flowers are not forever, but receiving them invokes the sort of joy to set pulses racing and Jas Forwarding SA Perishable Division is making that real for many around the world. Fresh flowers, different varieties, and live plant cuttings are an important component of exports at the Jas Forwarding Johannesburg airfreight division, one of South Africa’s leading players in export flowers. National perishables manager Jaco Vlok says despite the strong rand hitting many exporters below the belt, as it were, flower exports at Jas Forwarding are going from strength to strength. “We would like to grow this business by up to 25% in the year ahead,” says the avid home gardener who also serves as a co-opted member of the South Africa Flower Grower’s Association. Evidence of the popularity of South African export flowers lies in Jas Forwarding having dispatched on KLM 100 tons of fresh flowers to Amsterdam in March alone, for an airfreight value of R1,2 million. Complementing the company’s Johannesburg perishables division is a Cape Town satellite office which also consigns flowers, mainly protea and fynbos, to the United States, linking with the Johannesburg perishable office when international flights out of Cape Town are not possible. Another healthy market for Jas Forwarding is processed fruit (fresh fruit salad) of which around 40 tons a month is flown for sale at London supermarkets. “Survival is the order of the day, especially for exporters of perishable products, and although the market is depressed to a certain degree we have been fortunate to increase both air and seafreight volumes while at the same time winning new clients.” Vlok says Jas Forwarding takes pride in its high levels of service which include assisting fledgling exporters with the necessary registrations to secure accreditation, adding: “We do not wish to be known in the market as a perishable forwarding agent moving huge volumes but rather as a perishable forwarding agent offering a superior service to our valued clients.”