Being a day length dependent crop, garlic can be grown in South Africa wherever and whenever onions are grown, although there is limited local production of about 2500 tonnes of fresh garlic per annum.
The equivalent of 1200 tonnes of fresh garlic is imported annually in dehydrated form for use as a spice and in spice mixes and for rehydration. The bulk of this is imported from China.
"Prices are following global trends with imports of approximately 3500 tonnes of fresh garlic annually - with the majority coming from Spain and smaller quantities from China," explains Gerard van der Laarse from Simply Garlic. "All fresh imports have to be irradiated to prevent them from being used as planting material, to 'protect' the local industry."
"This is leading to the slow deterioration of the quality of locally produced garlic," according to Gerard. Imported garlic also carries hefty duties by government for the local market protection.
Garlic is a traditional product in South Africa and is used in many traditional recipes and dishes and is sold in every supermarket and greengrocer. There is an annual average growth of 6% per annum in demand.
"Fresh export has settled at an average of 1000 tonnes per annum with the major export markets being neighbouring African countries, but the figures for fresh exports are not clear, because it is not only local production which is being exported, but also fresh imports," said Gerard. "We do export rehydrated garlic to Switzerland in small volumes."
South Africa cannot compete with China and India on local production and is a net importer of garlic. Therefore pricing follows global trends and there has been a steep price increase over the past 12 months, especially with the dehydrated garlic, where prices have increased by nearly 200%.
Processed garlic is increasing in popularity with a steady growth of 8% annually. It must be refrigerated, but innovation into new lines such as Squeeze Minced Garlic, expand the category.
"Black garlic is fermented locally with imported fresh garlic, because of their superior quality," according to Gerard. "Black garlic is also being imported on a small scale, but our locally fermented black garlic has seen steady growth where monthly volumes have steadily increased to nearly 2 tonnes per month."
"The South African consumer is always keen on new products such as black garlic, sun dried tomato slices and deep fried sun dried onion slices which we also produce."
