Seasoned newcomer to Middle Eastern fruit exports notes airfreight bottleneck in Dubai

As South African strawberry exports to the Middle East wind up and make way for Jordanian and Egyptian strawberries, newly-established Cape Country Exports is moving over to stone fruit and blueberry exports to this market."The past three months have been very good for South African strawberries there", says Lenert van Wyk, founder, and CEO of Cape Country Exports, "and the demand in the Middle East remains undimmed."The main thrust of his exports is baled lucerne (alfalfa) for animal feed, composing 90% of his business, but the remaining 10% is well-poised for fruit. The need for animal feed like lucerne is high, but it's getting trustworthy clients in the Middle East that's the hard part, Van Wyk says; he has built up a network in Oman, Qatar and the UAE, and he's working towards a toehold in Kuwait.

Cape Country Exports supplies supreme, prime, grades 1 and 2 hay, in different sizes and bale types, to animal feed distributors in the Middle EastHis initial plan only concerned the bales of hay he procures from farms along the Hartswater Irrigation Scheme in the Northern Cape, but given the reputation of South African fruit and since he'd worked in that arena, it probably was only a matter of time before fruit would be added to Cape Country Exports' portfolio."I've worked for ten years in the capacity of logistics manager at various fruit exporters. The supply chain is my forte but I've always known that one day I will to get more into the marketing side of things. My financial background has always been strong, and with my supply chain credentials I knew eventually my own company would be on the horizon," he says, and this year has seen the realization of this ambition.Cape Country Exports sent seven to ten pallets weekly of airfreight strawberries to clients in Oman over the past three months; he says they were very happy with the quality of the fruit. Later, stone fruit and blueberries will be added to the mix.

South African strawberries, like these on the Southern Cape farm of one of his suppliers, experienced a good export season to the Middle East, says Lenert van Wyk From his years in logistics, he knows the period around the end of October and the start of November to be a battleground for airfreight space: the majority of the early stone fruit is flown out, and meat exports pick up, so getting space is always difficult at this time, but this year even more so."In Dubai there's congestion after a few flights were canceled, so it's extremely difficult getting flights from Cape Town and from Johannesburg at the moment, as a result of the political instability in the Middle East. But I believe it's going to improve from here on."For more information:Lenert van WykCape Country ExportsTel: +27 73 197 5821Email: [email protected]https://www.linkedin.com/cape-country-exports-pty-ltd