Sonlia Marketing’s last export pomegranates for the season are on the water, borne along by their new premium pomegranate brand which has gained firm traction.
“Colors is Sonlia Marketing’s brand for our premium class 1 pomegranates,” says Marita Rossouw of Sonlia Marketing, adjunct to South Africa’s largest pomegranate packhouse.
Apart from the pomegranates from five producers packed into the Colors brand, they also packed into generic boxes which, she remarks, proved an insightful counterpoint.
“The prices we received on the Colors pomegranates were higher than those in the generic boxes because receivers associate quality with the brand. We started last year to market pomegranates under Colors. We also had some pallets left over after a container was filled, so they went in the Colors boxes to the local market where they did tremendously well,” she says.
“Buyers recognize it as a premium pomegranate brand, so we’re considering, for next year, to pack pomegranates into the Colors brand for both exports and for the local market.”
The Middle East has become the major market for processing pomegranates, complementing large clients in the UK.
“The price for pomegranates in the Middle East was showing signs of lifting above the price offered by European buyers who are facing high levels of inflation and who are slow to adjust to price increases.”
Given European regulations around false codling moth, it is easier to produce for the Middle East where pomegranate consumption is high, supporting prices, but it remains vital to spread exports over a wide area.
Early citrus season
Just as pomegranates stopped running over Sonlia’s packlines, the first clementines from the Western Cape started (export packouts are excellent, she notes) and by next week they will be getting in the first navels of the season.
“The citrus season kicked off a week earlier than last year, in week 16 already with Nules and lemons. Navels started two weeks earlier in week 18,” she says.
For more information:
Marita Rossouw
Sonlia Marketing
Tel: +27 21 873 0449
Email: marketing@sonlia.co.za