Farmer's Weekly (South Africa)
Extra virgin olive oil boom in China creates new market
Extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) is becoming increasingly popular in the Far East, especially China.
According to China-based market research company Daxue Consulting, changing eating habits in that country could be the reason for increased sales of EVOO there.
The Asia-Pacific olive market was expected to record a compound annual growth rate of 4,2% between 2020 and 2025, according to market research firm Mordor Intelligence. Mordor said the region’s market for olive oil was growing rapidly to meet surging demand from consumers for the nutritional benefits of the product.
Nick Wilkinson, chairperson of SA Olive, told Farmer’s Weekly that the relatively new market for olive oil in China was driven by price and not quality. He said this was an impediment for local producers of high-quality EVOOs, as Chinese consumers were focused only on price.
“Our producers who tried to get into the Chinese market have struggled, and it is usually on price. However, this will not stop us. We will continue to try and enter the market.”
Wilkinson was, however, unable to provide data on the volume of EVOO exported to China.
Commenting on how COVID-19 affected South Africa’s olive oil industry, he said it had been particularly hard hit by increasing costs and a slump in demand. As a result of the COVID-19related lockdown measures, the entire hospitality trade had been shut down and volumes had therefore dropped significantly.
The impact was partially offset by the increase in online and retail olive oil sales that were sparked by the growing interest in home cooking. “However, it didn’t offset what was lost through the hospitality trade, which is a large consumer of olive oil.” He added that there was still a fair amount of olive oil stock in the system.
“Thus far we’ve experienced good growing conditions, but olives are a biennial-bearing crop. We had a large crop last year, so the crop will be down this year.” Wilkinson also expressed concern about growing conditions in the Karoo and Klein Karoo, where farmers were experiencing water constraints. –
Jeandré van der Walt
The sugar cane farms of 175 small-scale growers are hanging in the balance as illegal sand mining in the Middle-Komati River reaches catastrophic levels.
As increasingly more sand is removed, water levels are dropping to the point where irrigation pumps can no longer function. Since this region of Mpumalanga receives an average of only 600mm of rain per year, the sugar cane crop is dependent on additional irrigation water to survive.
Soren Bruce, the Komati area manager for the South African Canegrowers Association, said sand mining had started in the early 2000s after the weir near Sibange village broke, exposing high-quality river sand. “There have been a joint task team and multistakeholder discussions to bring the sand mining under control, but to no avail.”
He said that while some of the miners had obtained mining rights legally through the Department of Mineral Resources, others had started illegal operations.
“But even those with mining rights are excavating sand far beyond the levels that are legal. According to law, they can’t remove sand to a point where it affects the flow of water or the water levels, nor mine in the main flow of the river.”
In documents addressed to catchment management agencies and various levels of government, the growers stated that the lowering of water levels as a result of sand mining meant that pump stations had to be lowered at a cost of R180 000 per pump. Many pumps have had to be abandoned as the water levels are too low to allow for pumping.
Bruce said that the complaints and pleading with authorities to step in had fallen on deaf ears.
“I believe there are incentives being paid to turn a blind eye. It’s frustrating for the growers because the illegal activities are so blatant, but nothing can be done.”
The 175 growers produced 200 000t of sugar cane annually, earning R108 million in revenue. – Lindi Botha