South America poses big threat

MARK JACKSON-MOSS EXPORTS ARE benefiting from the weaker SA rand but the extreme cold of June has been extremely harsh on this year’s winter crop with global warming hurting SA’s race for northern markets. “The 2007 market has been a mixed bag,” says Mike Froy of Johannesburg-based Grindrod PCA. “The summer months were fine with good quality produce. The winter has not been so great with the severe cold snap in June doing irreparable damage to the winter crops.” Exports to the main markets of Europe, the Middle and Far East and Africa are enjoying the rand-US dollar tussle. “The rand weakened against the US$ by 6.3% compared with 2006, so this always helps exports,” adds Froy. South African produce faces stiff competition from its immediate west. South America is SA’s main competitor for northern hemisphere markets and South America is emerging as the power house, says Froy. “Most countries are seeing a shift in climatic conditions caused by global warming and this has caused South American countries to have many products ready for the world markets ahead of South Africa.” Many years ago the reverse was true. “But now this is changing as our seasons have moved out more than South America’s,” says Froy, who cites increasing production costs as an emerging problem for SA. And when it comes to the movement of perishable cargo, time is of the essence. Grindrod PCA uses Compu-Clearing systems exclusively for its operational and accounting applications. ”With perishable cargo, you don’t have the luxury of doing things wrong and then re-doing them, which is why it’s essential to have not only a reliable system, but one where response times are good and efficiency is total,” says Craig Campbell, divisional executive-operations.