Capespan is a world leading exporter of fruits. The product assortment includes everything from apples, pears, lemons and oranges to grapes, avocado, grapefruits and other exotic fruits. Headquartered in Cape Town, South Africa, the company mainly trades in fruits from the southern hemisphere. “70% of our products come from South Africa, the rest, particularly grapes, is imported from India, Chile, Peru and Mexico,” explains Andreas Rohregger, managing director of Capespan Austria. In addition to the domestic market, Capespan Austria sees to all of Central and Eastern Europe. Besides Austria, Capespan has a further 14 sales offices all over the world. The Group’s European head office is based in Antwerp. Capespan has two successful, long-established brands: Cape for grapes, apples, pears and stone fruits, and Outspan for citrus fruits. The success of the two world-renowned brands is based on a simple yet very demanding recipe: constant, impeccable freshness, superior quality and rigorous selection. In filling this recipe with life, Capespan can draw on more than seventy years of experience deriving from two outstanding enterprises: Outspan and Unifruco. The two cooperatives were founded around 1900, with the objective to promote the export of fruits from South Africa. In 1994, Outspan and Unifruco joined forces to create Capespan. “Today, there are seven big players in the worldwide fruit export business,” says Mr. Rohregger. “Most of them are focused on bananas and have their roots in the USA.”
With the great majority of fruits still coming from South Africa, Capespan is strongly committed to the country and its farmers. “Our contract farmers benefit from the high social responsibility standards we have imposed in all our plantations,” says Mr. Rohregger. Whether from South Africa or any other fruit growing southern nation, all fruits are transported exclusively by ship. “All our ships are refrigerated, which guarantees for perfect freshness from origin to destination,” says Mr. Rohregger. In the future, Capespan plans to also use trains to make a contribution to reducing CO2 emissions. Refrigerator ships and trains, however, are only one piece of the logistics puzzle which is required to deliver fresh produce all year round. Capespan is equipped with all the necessary technology throughout the entire supply chain, from cultivation and harvesting to packaging and dispatching through to storage in modern cold stores. Most products for the European market arrive in Vlissingen near Rotterdam where Capespan has a large refrigerated warehouse with space for more than 12,000 pallets of fresh fruits. From here, the products are supplied to retailers and wholesalers all over Europe. In Austria, Capespan supplies classic supermarket chains such as Spar or Rewe as well as various wholesaling businesses. “In Eastern Europe, the retail segment accounts for 30% of our deliveries, the rest goes to wholesalers,” states Mr. Rohregger. Before distribution, however, Capespan makes sure that all produce meets the company’s rigorous quality standards. These standards are ensured by the full range of certificates Capespan’s growers have been awarded, including GLOBALGAP, IFS and BRC. “Without these certificates, we neither import produce nor pack it up,” says Mr. Rohregger. Another important issue in guaranteeing impeccable quality is traceability. “We know the origin of every single pallet and can trace it back along the entire way, from the customer to the producer,” explains Mr. Rohregger.
Around 40% of the fruits imported by Capespan Austria are for the domestic market while 60% go to Central and Eastern Europe. “We serve a diverse market with twelve countries, ten different languages and over 129 million consumers,” states Mr. Rohregger. In distributing its fresh produce, Capespan sets great store by personal contacts with its clients. “We are in permanent touch with the buyers on the one side and the retailers and wholesalers on the other,” Mr. Rohregger describes the distribution strategy. “This way, we can optimise the supply chain and guarantee perfect freshness.” Capespan Austria is a high-growth business which employs a mere 13 people. In 2007, the company turned over 31 million EUR. “The target for the year was only 24 million EUR,” says Mr. Rohregger. “For the current year, we are planning a further increase to 34 million EUR.” Part of the growth will come from enhanced sales to the supermarket sector with the support of the company’s wholesale partners. In addition, Capespan is planning to enter further promising markets in Central and Eastern Europe such as Albania, Macedonia and Turkey. “Eastern Europe is a booming market where imported fruits, contrary to the west, are still regarded as a prestige product,” concludes Mr. Rohregger. “This relates in particular to Poland, Romania and the Baltic States.”