GOGO GROUP/EKM EXPORTS: Picky About Fruit so you Don’t Have to be

The sour taste left by the Covid-19 pandemic, as President Ramaphosa describes the country moving from relief to recovery, has resulted in a lack of zest across major industries in the country. At the beginning of 2020, the economy sat stagnant – zero growth and the disease of corruption still clear for all to see. Once the ripe and ready African partner of the world, South Africa’s position was ailing like a dead fruit falling from a tree. But promises of improvement, and a history of overcoming challenges, left many with hope. When the virus hit, it became clear that economic plans had to shifted to deal with the fallout. Now, meaningful growth is not expected to return for some time, but not all industries have been allowed to decay.

 Citrus farming has long been a staple of the South African agricultural scene. After Jan van Riebeeck planted citrus trees in Cape Town in the 1600s, the industry blossomed and the farming of citrus spread across the country, reaching Limpopo – now citrus heartland. A perfect climate for growing citrus – with warm temperatures, dry seasons, and well-drained soils – South Africa has positioned itself among the world’s top players, alongside Brazil, China, the USA, Mexico, India and Spain.

 Thankfully, this juicy-sweet industry has managed to avoid the relative darkness of Coronavirus and is growing, picking, packaging and shipping to all corners of the world as people’s insatiable appetite for citrus booms.

 HUNGRY

 In October, the Citrus Growers Association (CGA) announced that South Africa was on track to export a record number of cartons. By the start of the month, the industry had moved 148.8 million cartons – 20 million more than the previous year – with all fruits except grapefruit performing above predictions.

 By mid-October, the country was heading towards 170 million cartons exported, using reefer containers and refer vessels to fill gaps in the supply chain, helping to avoid slowdowns at big ports around the world.

 One of the largest companies involved in this major push is the GoGo Group. Headquartered in Pretoria, the GoGo Group and EKM Exports (the group’s international sales arm) is a major citrus farming operation with many producers working to a model which maximises returns while ensuring fruits of the highest quality.

 ‘The quest for fruit excellence’ is the vision the group lives by. Since Eben Kruger founded the business alongside his brother and farmer Tian in 1998, his goal has always been to lead the industry by doing things right for farmers and buyers.

 Today, the GoGo group farms massive swathes of land across Limpopo and Mpumalanga. Sometimes reaching as far as the eye can see, and continuing beyond the horizon, this green ocean of fruit trees is expertly cultivated by farmers with years of experience.

 The size of the operation is clearly demonstrated by the numbers. Currently, the GoGo Group has 1400 hectares of citrus and 130 hectares of grapes in production, it boasts a 22,000m² world class cold store facility where 7500 pallets can be stored and the only inland cold treatment facility in South Africa where 1000 pallets per cycle can be processed, and a 17,000m² world class packing facility where 90 tonnes are packed each hour. New cold room and packhouse facilities are now operational and state-of-the-art electronic sorting and quality control machines (providing weight and density measurements and taking multiple high resolutions images of each fruit) ensures high quality produce at all times. Provided by MAF RODA AGROBOTIC, an innovative French machine engineering company specialising in food processing, the technology installed at the GoGo packhouse is some of the most advanced in Southern Africa and this helps to drive interest from customers around the globe.

 “We’re the only inland cold-room facility in South Africa that is approved for phytosanitary inspections as well as doing the pre-cooling for special markets like China, India, and Taiwan,” EKM Exports Director, Brendon Kruger told Enterprise Africa in 2016. “In the past, any grower or exporter would have to send containers of fruit to the port and at the port they would do the inspections and this caused congestion and delays as everyone is harvesting at the same time and everybody is sending their fruit to the port at the same time. Now that we have the pack house right next to the cold-room, we are much more efficient.

 “The fruit goes straight from the pack house into the cold-room and we load the containers, seal them, and the next time the container is opened is by the client overseas.”

 TRULY GLOBAL

 Currently, EKM Exports on behalf of the GoGo Group is moving product heavily into China and the Far East but India remains a major target area. To bolster its brand in India, the company began a high-profile marketing campaign back in 2015 making use of a major South African export to India. Cricket legend AB de Villiers was photographed in full GoGo cricket uniform and printed on boxes, cartons, packaging, and digitally through website and social media channels. The batsman, at the time playing for Royal Challengers Bangalore, was keen to help promote a South African success story.

 “It’s definitely a positive thing in the market, especially in places like India and Bangladesh. We are going to carry on with this campaign and push it harder than we have before,” said Kruger.

 Wherever the demand comes from, the GoGo Group and EKM Exports stand ready to deliver.

 For South Africa’s fruit industry as a whole, the pandemic has been another factor in a long line that have boosted exports. An exchange rate which sees a very favourable Rand for exporters combined with a market left bare, after European and northern hemisphere stocks were depleted, has provided South African growers with an open goal – especially while consumers look to traditional fruits, rich in vitamins, to bolster their immune systems.

 The 2020 export crop for the USA has been a bumper. CGA Chief Executive Justin Chadwick said at a recent digital event that the numbers were staggering.

 “In March 2020, when the Covid-19 situation was really bad in the US, sales increased by 84% compared to the same time last year. Over the year, there has been a 29% increase in navel sales. It has been a massive positive for South African citrus in the US.”

 He added that the same was true for red grapefruits and lemons with sales increasing by 11% and 17% respectively.

 China and East Asia accounts for around 20% of all citrus exports and this is major milestone for the industry. In 2004, when South African citrus was first allowed into the Chinese market, the country was shipping around 10,000 tonnes. Today that figure is higher than 140,000 tonnes.

 While the export figures have been good for the year, it has not come easily. The need for innovation has been strong thanks to a slowdown at the bottlenecks in the chain – the ports. Some of South Africa’s ports had to close to be deep cleaned before reopening with fewer staff and reduced capacity. At the GoGo Group, this challenge was hurdled through the use of rail.

 The company’s position, close to rail links allowed loading reefer containers that headed straight for Durban very convenient. Loading at Bela Bela, Tzaneen, Musina and City Deep before being sent out on reefer vessels from Transnet’s Port of Durban, the GoGo group railed 70% of all the containers destined for shipment through Durban this season, and 100% of all exports. With limited road capacity in Limpopo, rail links are a major hope for the future as more citrus farmers in the region are encouraged to use the tracks to access lucrative export markets.

 By 2021, EKM Exports forecasts 3.7 million cartons of South African produce will head for international markets. By 2022, four million cartons will be moved. This demand will emerge from a consistently first-class product, and a seamless link between producer and consumer.

 “We are proud to say that, through our consistency and dedication, GoGo has now gained a reputation as ‘the Rolls Royce of fruit’,” the company states.