South African food producers have a real opportunity to capture a slice of the US market in high value and high growth areas such as specialist foods and organic produce.

“We have a real chance to increase our specialty food exports,” says Seanne Kube, Wesgro’s trade promotion manager for the Americas, following a visit by the trade promotion agency to the New York Fancy Food 2008 exhibition.

“This is due to the fact that the Americans are hungry for something new and we have the support of DTI offices like the SA New York Consulate office in encouraging SA promotional drives. This will create opportunity for ‘different’ value-added food products,” adds Kube.

South African food exports to the US – which currently consist of items such as citrus fruit, wine, nuts, fruits and vegetable juices – have been losing market share, according to 2007 figures.

One area in which South African food producers have a real opportunity to excel, is the organic produce sector. The US organic food industry is growing at 20.5% with consumer sales amounting to $16.7bn in 2006.

Organic food is also the fastest growing segment in the overall $598bn food market and has been showing consistent annual growth rates of 15%-21% since 1997.

“Organic is seen as a clear product differentiator. These foods can be sold at a premium if the merchandizing is done correctly and the product quality is beyond question in the consumers mind,” says Seanne Kube.

Of the response from American business at the New York Fancy Food 2008 exhibition, Kube says South African producers need to ensure they have a product that marks them out from other producers, and using indigenous products is a key way to doing this.

“US importers and retailers are looking for products with a difference. One importer said that she could get jams anywhere but she wanted a different kind of jam. So rooibos jams and aloe pickles are truly the difference that they are looking for.

That point was proven at the US food exhibition after Fynbos Fine Foods, which manufactures a range of food products that contain fynbos extracts, beat 33,000 competitors to win the National Association for the Specialty Food Trade (NASFT) Sofi Award Silver trophy for 'Outstanding Appetizer”.

The mission was also very successful for a number of other delegates, with order books going forward for just six of the 23 delegates totalling more than R8m.

The US is South Africa's second largest export market, behind the UK, and the value of the speciality food and drinks market in Europe and the US is forecast to grow 5% in the year to 2009 to almost $120bn.