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In a first of its kind example of intra-Hub collaboration, CARANA managed Southern
Africa Trade Hub and West Africa Trade Hub joined forces to
secure a new market for MD2 pineapple and fresh mangos from
Ghana and Senegal. Resulting sales to South Africa will be
in the range of USD 1.1 and 1.4 million annually, thereby
enabling a South African processor to preserve its share in
an expanding multi-million dollar market for fresh cut fruits
to Europe.
For the past several months, the Southern Africa Trade Hub
has been working with a leading fresh cut fruit processor
in South Africa to resolve a shortage of a certain pineapple
variety and quality counterseasonal mangos needed to satisfy
the specifications of a large UK retailer. To open new supply
channels for these crops, the Southern Hub's competitiveness
team began working with the West Africa Trade Hub to plan
and support the client’s trade mission to Ghana and Senegal,
which identified a number of highly competitive suppliers
in each country, as well as pest experts and plant quarantine
authorities. |
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Before the new trade links could be opened with South Africa,
however, concerns of the South African National Department
of Agriculture (NDA) about quarantine action pests and intellectual
property rights (IPR) had to be addressed. In response to
this need for information, the Southern Trade Hub first helped
the client to analyze the pest risk based on a literature
review, which narrowed down the list of pests for both crops
and led to the proposal of risk mitigation strategies that
were approved by the NDA. On the IPR front, similar Hub research
revealed a number of weaknesses in claims related to the MD2
variety, which satisfied the South African authorities and
enabled the import permit to be approved.
As a result of these efforts, the first shipment of mangos
was sent from Senegal in June 2005 and MD2 pineapples will
be shipped from Ghana in early September, thereby enabling
the South African firm to preserve its share in a rapidly
expanding export market for fresh cut fruit mixes in Europe
worth several million dollars annually. Resulting value in
regional pineapple exports alone is expected to be at least
USD 800,000 annually (50mt per week) and mango sales are projected
to range from USD 200,000 to 365,000 per year (5-10mt per
week) for exports from May to November for at least the next
three years.
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