“More visibility for Southern Hemisphere produce”

The Southern Hemisphere Association of Fresh Fruit Exporters has elected Alan Pollard from Pipfruit New Zealand as the new president of the association. The election took place during the Annual General Meeting of the association on the 9th February 2017 in Berlin, during the 25th Fruit Logistica. The presidency of New Zealand takes over from the presidency of Sergio Del Castillo/ProCitrus, representing Peru. The vice-presidency will be taken over by Dr. Konanani Liphadzi/Fruit South Africa.

Dr. Konanani Liphadzi-Fruit South Africa and Alan Pollard-Pipfruit New Zealand

Alan Pollard looks forward to the next years of work, highlighting, that:- “SHAFFE is a unique pre-competitive opportunity, to work on trade topics which do matter to the entire Southern Hemisphere and create a common market understanding. A new set of priorities ranging from gathering business intelligence – monitoring policy developments in key markets and improving the visibility of Southern Hemisphere produce, will help us to maintain the focus on things which really do matter for the entire industry.”

Southern Hemisphere countries, which include Argentina, Australia, Chile, New Zealand Peru, South Africa and Uruguay, are amongst the most active exporters worldwide. With 8.2 million tons of temperate fruit exports in 2015 worth $11 billion, the Southern hemisphere suppliers comprise twenty percent of the global fruit export market.

The meeting in Berlin concluded, that with a changing trading environment, a forum such as SHAFFE, is essential to understand the key challenges for the fresh fruit trade originating in the Southern Hemisphere, in future.

The next years will be strongly shaped by the results of the upcoming Brexit negotiations and its implications for regulatory changes in the field of tariffs, plant health and food safety. And also the governing style of the new U.S. administration needs to be followed closely and will have an impact on the future market access conditions for fresh fruits. The association will therefore focus on gathering business intelligence and the monitoring of current policy developments, but also on continuing to work on the perception of Southern Hemisphere produce as a great asset to Northern Hemisphere markets.

The members of SHAFFE thank Sergio Del Castillo for his dedicated work during his presidency in the past years, which significantly shaped the work of the association.

For more information:
Nelli Hajdu
shaffe@shaffe.net