Last year Tiger Brands announced the closure of their Langeberg and Ashton factory, which in its peak canned more than 100 000 tonnes of fruit yearly.
The decision has forced fruit farmers to diversify their crops and look to vegetables as an alternative product.
Jacques Jordan, CEO of the Canning Fruit Producers’ Association, who took part in the negotiations over the extension of the life of the Langeberg and Ashton factory for an extra season in 2022, believes that such a big closure would create a problem of oversupply, as farmers would have only a single fruit cannery left.
The Tiger Brands factory was one of two fruit canneries in the country, with Tulbagh of the Rhodes group now remaining as the last fruit canning company in the country.
Jordan added that this will mostly affect the country’s export market share, with South Africa ceding to countries like Greece.