Southern Africa's fruit hub focuses in on client care - FreshFruitPortal.com

Southern Africa's fruit hub focuses in on client care

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Southern Africa's fruit hub focuses in on client care

In its 120th year of operation, South Africa's Joburg Market is making a major push toward renovation. As the largest fresh market in Africa, the 80ha facility in Johannesburg is on a five-year plan to boost infrastructure and cold storage facilities. CEO Simangele Sekgobela and Jan Mocke spoke to www.freshfruitportal.com about their plans to make it a fruit hub for big and small players across the region.

"How people and goods move has become very important so that we can reduce contact of food with people in order to introduce more safety. We're going to upgrade our laboratory to make sure the produce we sell is safe and can also trace its origins to where it came from," Sekgobela said.

Sekgobela accepts an award for Joburg Market's 120th year at the Produce Marketing Association's Fresh Connections Southern Africa, photo: Steven Le Roux

Sekgobela accepts an award for Joburg Market's 120th year at the Produce Marketing Association's Fresh Connections: Southern Africa, photo: Steven Le Roux

"For the first part, we are making sure that the facilities that we have become world class and that it facilitates the movement of goods, so logistics will improve."

Over the long term, the market also hopes to develop its remaining space for added-value services such as fruit canning and juicing facilities. There will also be a major focus on the client experience.

The trading floor is expected to increase by 40% and undergo a professional make over, Mocke explained.

"It’s going to look a lot more attractive than what it is now. One of the issues with the buyers is that they need to walk one and a half kilometers just to see what is available there," he said.

"So we want to concentrate that in a smaller area so that people can more easily get a perspective of what is there and make the negotiation easier.

"In that area, it is going to be a lot more buyer friendly. There are going to be coffee shops and professional customer care."

With thousands of buyers flowing into the Joburg Market before sunrise, ease and efficiency of operations is key. This is the market that keeps the region fed. From major clients such as Fruit & Veg Market to informal street vendors, all types of people can buy here - and they do.

"It’s really a 24-hour operation. During afternoon and the night, products come in. At five o’clock in the morning, it opens for buyers. From five in the morning until 11 o’clock, buyers come in and negotiate prices.  We’ve got 16 different agents on the market. Buyers go and compete and negotiate with these agents for product," Mocke said.

The market and its prices depend very much on current supply and demand. As product flows in, so do buyers from across Southern Africa and prices adjust to meet the day.

The system benefits all levels of suppliers by allowing ease of entrance into a major trading system.

"The market, in a way, is leveling the playing field for various different buyers," Mocke said.

"The market makes it possible for the small producer to enter into the market and to grow and become a commercial producer. Big guys like ZZ2 can easily supply the fresh markets and so on, but for a small farmer, he's [otherwise] got no hope. But if he’s got one box of tomatoes, he can go sell it in the market. He can grow from there."

Although the market cannot export, it attracts buyers from Namibia, Angola, Mozambique and across South Africa. These buyers will then source their produce to consumers throughout the region.

The fruit comes from diverse parts of Southern Africa as well, including apples from the Cape, vegetables from Limpopo, bananas from Mozambique and other goods from Swaziland. The 24-hour operation creates common ground for a diversity of African traders and goods.

As a platform for so many sellers, Sekgobela emphasized the importance of confidence in the system. By working through the agent system, producers are guaranteed payment and provided confidence that they can continue to trade.

"We provide peace of mind. Farmers know that if they bring their goods to the market, they are guaranteed to get their money back. So there’s a lot of trust. The goods go through us and once the money is received, we start paying back whoever is owed the money and take our commission," she said.

Deepening that confidence will be vital as the market moves forward into its next phase of development.

"What our bigger picture is for the medium term is to create a fresh produce hub in the area, to be able to get the full benefit of the scale. Those tenants that we want to introduce and those industries we want to create around the market, those all support the core business of the market," Mocke said.

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