Nut facilities expand ahead of bumper crop
Green Farms Nut Company is rapidly increasing its processing capacity.
A MULTI-million Rand investment in a mega macadamia nut processing facility in White River, Mpumalanga, is expected to be the biggest of its kind in in South Africa when it is completed, but this is not the only indication of the astronomical growth the ‘mac’ industry is seeing in South Africa.
According to Alex Whyte, general manager of of Green Farms Nut Company (GFNC), which is building the new facility, the capacity of the company’s KwaZulu-Natal factory has also recently been increased by about 30 percent.
The factory will soon be expanded by a further 30 percent.
“It could be the fastest growing macadamia nut processing facility in South Africa,” Mr Whyte said. He added that GFNC, with its factories in Mpumalanga, Kwazulu-Natal and Limpopo, currently had the largest processing capability in the country .
The Limpopo factory had also recently been expanded, giving the company a total area of operation in South Africa of 12 200 square metres under roof, he said.
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It was hoped that the first of two phases of the massive new factory would be completed by February next year, in time to meet the expected astronomic increase in supply and to keep prices buoyant. While the drought had adversely affected the crops for the last two years, the good news for local nut farmers was that the 2018 crop was expected to be a bumper one, he said.
Over the last few years, the macadamia nut industry has really taken off in South Africa, including in KwaZulu-Natal, an area considered excellent for growing this exciting crop. According to figures released by the Southern African Macadamia Growers Association (SAMAC), new macadamia tree plantings in South Africa have tripled in the last four years from 1250 hectares in 2013 to 3870 hectares in 2016.
There have been an almost doubling of plantings between 2015 and 2016 from 2000 hectares to 3870 hectares. Currently there are 28 000 hectares of established macadamia orchards in Mpumalanga, Limpopo and KwaZulu-Natal.
In July last year, these massive increases prompted GFNC to undertake the building of the new factory.
“The project, already underway at the existing factory in White River, demonstrates the company’s commitment to the industry and underpins its strategy to ensure that macadamia nuts remain a sustainable and profitable business for the future.” Mr Whyte said.
Industry figures projected a 40 percent increase of nut in-shell, from 38 500 tonnes in 2016 to 64 800 tonnes in 2020. To absorb this massive supply increase, the company’s approach rested on three key pillars. These were processing capacity, sophisticated product marketing and value add, all of which were inextricably linked to being able to sell at currently buoyant prices in future.
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“We are invested for the long run. We will cultivate our business alongside growth in the crop. Based on historic and ongoing exponential plantings our view is that it is imperative to increase processing capacity to ensure long term viability for the industry and our farmers.” he said.
The completion of phase 1 of the project next year will see factory size increased by an additional 7 000 square metres – from the current 3 000 square metres to 10 000 square metres. There will be a 40 percent increase in processing capacity, from 5 500 tonnes to 8 000 tonnes dry nut in-shell. There will also be an additional 250 tonnes drying bin storage capability, bring this total to 800 tonnes.
State of the art optic sorters will drive efficiency through increased processing speed, keeping processing fees to a minimum.
All kernel needs to go through a sterilisation process to meet stringent food safety demand. The new factory will harness the latest technology to do this. There will be reduced water usage through improved technology and electricity cost will be saved by the burning macadamia nut shell by-product to dry the in-shell and kernel nuts
Completion of phase two of the project is estimated for 2020, with key components including total processing capacity upwards of 15 000 tonnes dry nut in-shell, further technology and equipment upgrades as well as increased storage and warehousing.
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