The year fruit exporters would prefer to forget

Founder of the Le Roux Group and the 2021 Agricultural Writers SA Farmer of the Year for 2021, Jan le Roux, had his fair share of challenges this past year. He spoke to Lindi Botha about his table grape and stone fruit farms, and the interventions needed to ensure a future in this sector.

-  Lindi Botha

How did your business fare during the past year?

In terms of the grapes and stone fruit destined for export, it was not a good year. The margins of both were significantly reduced by high shipping costs and the dysfunctionality of South Africa’s harbours. Shipping costs doubled and we had to pay extra just to ensure there were refrigerated containers available. Grapes and stone fruit are highly perishable, so they have to be cooled from the moment they’re picked until they reach the consumer. With the delays caused by the ports, we had to find additional refrigerated storing space, which came at an extra cost. There were also quality problems with the fruit that was loaded onto ships but then experienced delays in getting to market. This in turn led to lower prices.

In addition, the cost of local transport soared and input costs increased by up to 50%. All these factors led to a very bad year. I don’t think there’s a single producer who wouldn’t say this was the worst year on record in terms of income. Very few farmers even made a profit.