Karsten Farms

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_x000C_Karsten Group (Karsten) is a family farming business that started in 1974 in the Orange River area, in the Northern Cape (South Africa). Karsten grows fruits mostly for export (table grapes, dates, apples and pears) and owns orchards and vineyards in two areas: north of Cape Town at Hoogland Farm (130 hectares), and in the Lower Orange River Area as well as close to the Namibian border (about 800 hectares over 8 separate farms). The main product is table grapes for the EU market, mostly England, with a smaller production of apples, pears, dates and melons, the latter for the local market only. Karsten has recently added blueberries and cherries to its product mix. Outside of South Africa Karsten manages a 78 hectare grape farm in the Cairo/Alexandria region of Egypt.Karsten’s strategic goal is to create a vertically integrated business with the economy of scale to compete effectively in the international market and to ensure that their product quality and unit costs are competitive with the most efficient producers in the industry. To achieve this goal Karsten will:- Widen the market window for its core product, table grapes by establishing a greenfield grape farm in the Aswan region of Egypt;- Achieve year-round fruit production by expanding its product mix to include citrus and berries; and- Assure quality and lower operating costs by establishing its own marketing and distribution arrangements in South Africa and the United Kingdom.