US: Sun World expands South Africa stone fruit licensed marketers

Sun World International LLC has appointed Stems Fruit Pty Ltd, a relatively new stone fruit export company in South Africa, as a licensed stone fruit marketer. Stems Fruit Pty Ltd joins Capespan Exports Pty Ltd and Green Marketing International Pty Ltd and brings to the table a solid producer base as well as professional and expert stone fruit management team.

Stems Fruit was founded a year ago by experienced stone fruit marketer Annelie
Haumann in conjunction with share holder producers and The Grape Company, a specialist table grape export company and existing licensed table grape marketer. After only one challenging export season, Stems Fruit confirmed solid supply of various categories of stone fruit from a range of premium stone fruit production areas as well as capturing high and premium international markets from the UK, through the Continent to a range of Asian markets.

Along with Capespan and Green Marketing, Stems Fruit becomes part of a larger
international network of 19 marketing companies licensed to handle Sun World stone fruit varieties including Montague Fresh and Freshmax Holdings (Australia); Dole Chile, Gesex, Tuniche (Chile); Apofruit and Agrintesa (Italy); El Ciruelo and Tany Nature (Spain); Yummy Fruit Co and Fresh NZ 2000 (New Zealand); Kibbutz Ayelet Hashachar, Rafkor Cooling, Rani Barness (Israel); and Wawona Packing Company, Wes-Pak Sales and Sunwest Fruit Company (California, USA).

The stone fruit to be marketed includes a wide range of plums including several blackskinned, red-flesh varieties marketed under the Company’s renowned BLACK DIAMOND brand, a broad line of black-skinned yellow-flesh plums marketed under the BLACK GIANT brand, a series of early-ripening apricots distributed under the HONEYCOT brand, and a line of early-ripening peaches marketed under the AMBER CREST brand. Sun World’s California based Research & Development Center has released dozens of stone fruit varieties, much of whose fruit is grown and sold in series under private trademarks and brands. These products complement Sun World’s line of seedless grapes which are produced and marketed under similar license arrangements around the world.

Sun World, a longstanding U.S.-based producer and marketer of fresh fruit, operates one of the world’s largest table grape and stone fruit breeding programs. Since its inception in the mid-1970s, the Company’s Variety Development Center has released countless varieties with improved flavor, size, color, shelf-life and extended seasonality. In addition to production on its own California properties, Sun World and/or its licensees grow these proprietary varieties in Australia, New Zealand, North America, Europe, South America, Israel and South Africa.

Sun World is a leading innovator in the research, production, distribution and promotion of fresh produce. The Company maintains integrated agricultural operations throughout central and southeastern California. More information about Sun World is available at www.sun-world.com.