Fruit producers eyeing Ashton canning business

Members of the Canning Fruit Producers’ Association (CFPA) have submitted an offer to purchase the Langeberg & Ashton Foods fruit processing factory in Ashton in the Western Cape.

Anthony Dicey, chairperson of the CFPA, said he was not legally allowed to divulge much information about the offer, but confirmed the association was awaiting a response from the board of directors of Tiger Brands, which owns Langeberg & Ashton Foods. Producers would thereafter have to decide on the way forward, and whether they wanted to buy the factory or not.

Producers had not really been negatively affected by the fact that the canner was placed on the market around October last year, as the company had honoured agreements made earlier that year. Prices for canned pears and peaches were, however, lower than the previous season, because of changes in the way in which prices were calculated, according to Dicey.

He said CFPA members had submitted the offer to purchase Langeberg & Ashton Foods as they were worried about the future of the factory. If the factory closed down, its absence would leave many canned fruit producers without a market. The factory reportedly processed about 100 000t of fruit each year and directly employed over 300 permanent and 4 000 seasonal workers. – Glenneis Kriel