South Africa's fruit industry has had a challenging year, but there has also been some bright sparks. Fruit SA has been hard at work negotiating an agreement that would see Mzansi's avocados make it into India, China, and Japan. To this end, various industry bodies have been hard at work negotiating to get locally grown avocados into India, China, and Japan. One of those industry bodies are Fruit South Africa, an umbrella body for Mzansi’s fruit industry, who have been at helm of negotiating avocados into the Asian countries.
Dr Mono Mashaba, specialist consultant for market development at Fruit SA, claims that the conclusion of negotiations have gained strong momentum: “The avocado industry has had to navigate the impact of very low domestic prices in Europe. The heavy reliance on the European market as the only major market for the product presents a significant risk to the medium- to long-term sustainability of the industry.”
However, on the positive side, experimentation with cold treatment during September to mitigate Oriental fruit fly was successfully conducted with the participation of an expert from the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.
Furthermore, a visit by Fruit SA to Japan earlier in October focused on lobbying for the conclusion of a protocol. They also met with potential importers to take South African avocados onboard in the 2023 season.
Source: foodformzansi.co.za