Mauritian innovator maintains year-round perishable stock

Citrus from Durban keeps cold store replete ALAN PEAT THERE HAS been some growth in the perishable industry in recent times, a market which fluctuates with both supply and demand factors, according to John Biggs, director of Durban-based clearing and forwarding (c&f) company Specialised International Freight (SIF). “Exports could have been better,” he said, “but we can’t complain.” In its c&f activities, SIF handles both import and export perishable cargoes, with one of its major contracts on the export side being McCain Foods. But the company also moves a lot of citrus fruit from Durban to the Indian Ocean Islands. And it’s on Mauritius that one of SIF’s more intriguing import customers runs his business, which seems to have a motto that “nothing is ever out of season”, according to Biggs. “Although there are a number of perishable stockists on the island,” he said, “Shyam Surat is probably one of the most innovative. “He sources his products from all round the world, so he follows the seasons in both the northern and southern hemispheres – and, effectively, this means that his stock is never out of season.” Surat has been rewarded for his ingenuity, both in business profit and social recognition. “He has been awarded the second-highest honour in Mauritius,” said Biggs, “for his activities in developing the island’s perishable industry.”