When Marilyn Bull established Toro Fruit, she expected citrus to be her main business, with strawberries as a sideshow. Fast forward six and a half years, and strawberries are the definite star, as it's been for the past few years since visiting the Middle East with a strawberry farmer, basically begging them to take South African strawberries.
The breakthrough came during COVID-19. By then, South Africa had been sending small quantities to the Middle East for a few years. In 2020, all flights from Australia, then the Middle East's main Southern Hemisphere strawberry supplier, were stopped. Overnight buyers had to find an alternative strawberry origin.
© Toro FruitToro Fruit's South African strawberries for sale at a Dubai supermarket
Fortuitously, some commercial flights still ran between South Africa and the Middle East. The enquiries flooded in and have not stopped since, as the reputation of South African strawberries soared in the Middle East. Middle East customers became aware, they say, of the good quality and longer shelf life of strawberries from South Africa.
Toro Fruit has had a front row seat in South African strawberries' meteoric rise in the Middle East, squeezing Australian strawberries out of the market.
© Toro Fruit
Toro Fruit has become synonymous with South African berries through its Toroberry brand
During April, when their raspberry crop ends, Toro Fruit sources the earliest strawberries in South Africa from the country's largest grower. Many of their clients request exclusivity on the Toroberry brand in their respective markets, as it is seen as a premium South African brand in the Middle East. The ToroBerry brand further includes strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries.
Toro used to supply Lebanon and Jordan, but last year, certain air routes were axed because of regional political uncertainty. They hope to resume trading with those countries this season.
Besides the Middle East, Toro Fruit exports to Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, and the Indian Ocean Islands. South East Asia only started in week 28 as they were getting cheaper products from the USA.
© Toro Fruit
Halt strawberry expansion
Despite strawberries' stellar export performance, they do not encourage growers to plant much more. However much South African growers have expanded their strawberry cultivation, Egypt has expanded ten times more. Ethiopian, Jordanian and UK strawberries were not seen in the market during South Africa's window in previous years, but are now being sold during the country's early season. United States strawberries are also present and less expensive than South African strawberries, but Toro Fruit believes the South African quality and shelf life are better.
They posit that everyone assumes the demand from the Middle East to be insatiable, but it can reach a saturation point. "We need to open more markets like India and Indonesia for strawberries, but this process takes time, and it can be years before the markets are open for South African strawberries."
There is basically zero time margin on strawberries and raspberries - blueberries can at least be sent by sea and have a much longer shelf life.
Strawberries can only be sent by air. The big issue that concerns Toro Fruit is air freight space. In August, when the blueberries get going, air freight space starts getting tight. At this time, it is their peak strawberry season, early blueberries, plus meat carcasses for the Middle East. In September, there's often fog on the runway in Dubai, and planes have to take on extra fuel because the pilot will have to circle before landing. This results in less space for cargo, as passenger luggage takes preference.
© Toro Fruit
Apart from the berry basket (strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries), Toro Fruit also exports golden kiwis, watermelons, figs, dates, stonefruit, grapes, citrus, lychee, mango, butternuts, pumpkins, carrots, avocados, papayas, baby pines, and baby vegetables.
For more information:
Marilyn Bull
Toro Fruit
Email: [email protected]
https://torofruit.com/
