![]() It is not their intention to pull volumes away from Johannesburg, Francois maintains: an oversupply at the Tshwane market will pull prices down. The ripening team, Juanré Piek and Luhan Peyper, with Francois Conradie at Subtropico's private banana ripening facility in Pretoriaģ1 ripening chambers to gas over 1.3 million cartonsĭuring the prolonged electricity problems at the Johannesburg market a few weeks ago, some banana producers were temporarily diverting bananas, originally meant for Johannesburg, towards them. Over 1,200 truckloads of bananas have been offloaded here over the past six months. The facilities have been built with input from postharvest experts as well as from their producers, many of whom have been growing bananas for decades and know what they need. Subtropico buyers get their bananas as usual on the Tshwane (Pretoria) market, unless they’re looking for greener bananas to be taken further afield, which can be ripened for them according to their specification at the facility. “What makes us unique is our location with regards to the Tshwane market which is 2.4km from us.” “In February this year we set up the Rolls Royce of banana ripening facilities,” says Francois. Right: Francois Conradie with a box from the back and one from the front of a ripening chamber, colouring at the same pace ![]() Lockdown last year, and a closure of the market for a few days, set the agency's resolve to look for a private facility close by the market where they could take control of their own ripening chambers and cold rooms. ![]() “Subtropico’s spine is yellow and bent,” quips Francois Conradie, general manager at Zire, Subtropico's fresh produce distribution centre and banana ripening facility. Subtropico is present on seventeen of South Africa's fresh produce markets. ![]() Subtropico’s banana specialists on the Tshwane market – Flip de Lange, Johan du Toit and Johan Blom of DW Fresh, now incorporated into Subtropico – sell around 70% of the bananas on that market, which renders them very vulnerable to any disruptions in power supply that affect the banana ripening process. ![]()
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