"Supplying customers around the world and being able to reach all the supermarkets that require a continuous supply is every exporting company's goal. Thus, to achieve this goal, San Miguel has a collaborative and synergistic model with strategic producers located in various locations in South Africa so that the company can complement its own production with their production," said Alejandro Lucas, the regional manager of San Miguel, in reference to the company's expansion in South Africa announced last week.
Currently, San Miguel has 850 hectares of citrus planted in Sundays River Valley, in southern South Africa, at about 65 kilometers from the city of Port Elizabeth in South Africa. In April 2016 the company acquired a new farm in Citrusdal Valley, in south western South Africa. The acquisition comprises two fields with a total of 1,424 hectares, 242 hectares of which are already planted and in production. Currently, these farms produce about 350,000 boxes of fresh citrus for export a year and have the potential of producing 470,000 boxes.
"Among the differential attributes of this acquisition, we must emphasizes that the region of South Africa has the phytosanitary permits to export to the US market. Additionally, it is a citrus area with low climate risks, the fruits produced there perfectly respond to the characteristics demanded by the market, and it allows us to expand our trade window, extending the campaign with complementary harvest time. Furthermore, we renewed our offer, and it is: 54% Navel oranges, 27% Valencia oranges, 18% mandarin, and the remaining 1% lime," said Lucas.
The goal of this new acquisition and the collaborative working model of the Argentine business is to meet customer requirements and having a healthy industry. Luke stated: "Instead of competing, we want to cooperate, working with communities as part of our social work and providing our support for environmental projects."
