Daniel Badger, Managing Director at UK importer Vitafresh Produce, moved out to South Africa in May 2024, since then he and his team have been working behind the scenes to set up Vitafresh Exports which is based in South Africa.
"We officially launched Vitafresh Exports in November, it is a branch owned by Vitafresh Produce in the UK," said Daniel. "The main products exported from South Africa are butternut squash, citrus, grapes, berries. We will also add produce from around the world to our range: limes, peppers, figs, sweet potatoes, melons, and more. South Africa will be our main source country and the main destinations will be the UK, Europe, Middle East, Asia, Russia, and USA."
Daniel and the team have visited various countries to meet growers and exporters to broaden the range of produce they can supply.
One of those countries was Egypt, which Daniel visited in early December. "The trip was a great opportunity to see a diverse range of growers in their farms and packhouses. Meeting lots of friends and making new ones too. Sourcing citrus from Egypt will give us a year-round supply of citrus and Egypt is growing more and more volume year on year, so it has quickly become a major source country for us."
Daniel is sourcing more than just citrus from Egypt: "We will be able to access around the following volumes of product: 40 containers of sweet potatoes, 40 containers of oranges, 25 containers of red onions/yellow onions, 10 containers of cherry tomatoes/round tomatoes, 10 containers of lemons, 10 containers of iceberg, 5 containers of spring onions. We will send this produce and produce from our other sources to our customers around the world as we build our customer base."
"We enjoyed learning a lot about the up-and-coming country Egypt, in regards to volume and quality from there. We established a lot of import connections for our South African business. We would like to thank everyone who hosted us for their hospitality. And we look forward to doing more and more volume from Egypt."
For more information:
Daniel Badger
Vitafresh Exports
Tel: +44 (0) 7944461019
[email protected]