News

RSA Market Agency has officially opened their doors at the Cape Town Market as of 1 March 2011.

RSA Market Agency has been a Fresh Produce Market Agency for close to 26 years and was initially only based in Johannesburg. They have expanded their brand to various parts of the country, and have now found the perfect residence at the Cape Town Market.

It has always been a dream of the late Mike Loutfie, founder of RSA Market Agency and Mr. Abduraghman “Maine” Daniels to launch a branch in Cape Town and this has indeed become a reality.

Mr. Daniels, Managing Director of RSA Market, Cape Town branch has been in the fresh produce industry for over 30 years and has extensive knowledge of the industry. Their large database of countrywide producers will give buyers a wide range of top quality produce at the Cape Town Market.

In the current climate of economic instability, it is refreshing to see partnerships evolve for the greater good of the Fresh Produce Industry.

The Cape Town Market has launched the first market agent’s contract, and service level agreement in the history of the fresh produce markets. Underpinned by our customer covenant the contract and SLA serves to provide a secure, transparent and business friendly environment in which producers and buyers feel welcome and confident.

The contract encapsulates the roles and responsibilities of the CTM and Market Agents. It aims to unify the expectations of the various stakeholder groups who make use of the CTM facility. The contract ensures conformity to the provisions of the Agricultural Agents Produce Council, the Agricultural Produce Agents Act, Act 12 of 1992 and the rules in respect of the Fresh Produce Agents, R1818 of 1983.

The SLA outlines the terms and conditions under which CTM and the market agents will collectively provide specified services to the producers of the fresh
produce industry and the buyers. The SLA provides a basis and framework for the delivery of high quality services, such as security, a clean trading environment, cold room facilities and stock control that meets the requirements of all the role players involved in the CTM. The services to be delivered by the CTM and agents will be monitored using the performance measurement criteria and penalties will be imposed on any shortcomings.

Through these agreements we will continue to strive to make this facility the first place of choice for the sale and purchase of fresh produce whilst we continue to maintain relationships with our stakeholders.

The Cape Town Market has recently installed a new closed circuit television system (CCTV) in an effort to improve the overall security on the market premises. This upgrade forms part of Cape Town Market’s ongoing commitment to upgrade the facility since purchasing the business from the City of Cape Town in 2004.

Whilst security at Cape Town Market has always been a number one priority, the new and improved camera system has strengthened the existing security team’s ability to monitor and prevent crime. The use of technology in combating crime is critical to the overall security strategy of the Cape Town Market. In addition to the new CCTV system, the estate is also monitored by security patrols on foot. If the CCTV operator spots any suspicious activity, the nearest security patrol is dispatched to investigate.

The camera system proved successful within its first week of operation, as it assisted the security team in apprehending two suspects.

On Thursday the 26th February 2009, Fine Bros (Pty) Ltd celebrated its 100th birthday on Cape Town Market. A glitzy gala dinner was hosted at the Cape Town market where 500 guests from a diversified background within the Fresh Produce Industry where in attendance.

The evening was a great success and Fine Bros are ready for the next 100 years of business. The guest speakers for the evening were Ian Lourens (Chairman of Lebombo Growers), John Holmes (Chief Operations officer of CTM), Dr Anwar Nagia (Chairman of CTM) and Quintus Visser (Entrepreneur and Family friend of the Norman family).

The evening was well orchestrated by the MC, Ryan O Connor from KFM, and he had the audience captivated with his well known charm and sense of humour.

The District Six Homecoming Festival is an annual 4 day festival organised by the Voice of the Cape.

In 2007 the festival was held at the Cape Town Market and due to the resounding success, the organisers approached Cape Market again in 2008 to host the festival. This became official on the 25th of October 2008, when the Chairman of the festival, Mr Achmat Sedick, signed a Memorandum of Agreement with Cape Town Market’s Chairman, Dr Anwah Nagia.

This agreement gives the Voice of the Cape the rights to host the festival at Cape Town Market from the 30th of October until the 2nd of November 2008.

As part of the Memorandum of Agreement, the Voice of the Cape had to obtain authorisation from the City of Cape Town to host the event. The authorisation also included a noise exception as well as a temporary rezoning of Cape Town Market premises for the event.

The Festival Starts on Thursday 30th October 2008 and will be running until Sunday 2nd November 2008 and will cater for the whole family.

For more information on the Festival, including a guide, please see the Voice of the Cape website:

The Voice of the Cape – www.vocfm.co.za

Banana Distributors received the award for “Most Progressive Supplier of the Year” for fresh produce in the Western Cape from Pick ‘n Pay on Friday night at an award ceremony held in Johannesburg.

The award was presented to the owner of Banana Distributors, Mr Sulaiman (Solly) Allie, at a ceremony Monday at the Cape Town Market on 22nd September. Banana Distributors won 1st prize while competing against approximately 300 fresh produce suppliers to Pick ‘n Pay in the Western Cape.
Banana Distributors has been operating from the Cape Town Market since it opened its doors in 1961, supplying many retailers and smaller buyers in the Western Cape.

Banana Distributors has been supplying Pick ‘n Pay with bananas for the past 30 years and has built up a strong banana wholesale business.
The Cape Town Market is proud to be associated with Banana Distributors and congratulates them on this prestigious award and wishes them further success for the future.

In July construction began of the new Operations Centre adjacent to the trading floor. The Operations Centre will include accommodation for all the support services for the trading floor including IT, finance, maintenance, security, cleaning and Epping Finance. The Operations Centre will also contain a dedicated common/meeting room for the buyers and in due course a coffee shop.

Peter Matthews, Chief Trading Officer, said “The Operations Centre brings to the trading floor all personnel who provide a service to our Market Agents, Salesmen, Producers and Buyers. We will be able to improve yet further the standard of our service to these important stakeholders”.

The Cape Town Market has acquired and installed a new 400kva generator. The acquisition is designed to ensure that the market is self sufficient in the event of electricity load shedding or failure. The new generator will be used primarily to supply power to the administration buildings, the main trading hall and the IT infrastructure which enables sales to continue uninterrupted.

In conjunction with the new generator the existing 800kva generator will be relocated to the cold and ripening rooms. This will supply power to the 14 cold rooms and 58 banana ripening rooms, which is the largest banana ripening complex in the Western Cape. This will give confidence to the number of cold room users which include producers, market agents and buyers, as we are now able to maintain the cold chain during electrical load shedding and/or power failure.

The 400kva generator has already been commissioned and working well, while the 800kva generator at the cold rooms will be commissioned later this year.
Commenting on the new generator CEO of Cape Town Market Rob Lowe said “Companies in South Africa need to ensure that they are able to continue with business as usual despite the shortfall of electricity in the country. While it is a big investment we need to ensure that we remain competitive in our industry and provide our customers with the service they come to expect from the Cape Town Market.”

The Annual General Meeting of Cape Fresh International Fresh Produce Trading (Pty) Limited (CFI), the owner of the Cape Town Market was held on Monday 26th May 2008 at the Cape Town Market.

All shareholders attended the meeting which was preceded by a meeting of the Board of Directors. The CEO of CFI, Rob Lowe, reported on a very satisfactory 2007/2008 financial year. Highlights for the year included an 18% increase in revenue and a 27% increase in profit. During the year the Customer Covenant was unveiled and signed by all stakeholders.

The Covenant is a significant step towards reintroducing integrity at the Cape Town Market and is also evidence of the good relations that now exist between the owners of the market, the market agents and the producers.

The long awaited refurbishment of the trading floor also began. New fences have been installed and the electrical and IT networks have also been upgraded. The refurbishment will be completed during the 2008/2009 financial year. The financial statements for the year ended 29th February 2008 were adopted and approved.

The trading hall was built in 1961 and was officially opened on the 21st of August 1961. Since then not a lot of money has been invested into the infrastructure. This lack of investment is now being rectified with a R12 million refurbishment program. The refurbishment commenced in September 2007 and will include:

• The construction of new dividing fences
• The installation of new lighting
• The installation of new security cameras
• The installation of new electricity cables and new IT cables
• The painting of the interior of the trading hall

It is anticipated that the refurbishment will be completed by May 2008.

The new fences are in the process of being installed and already there is a marked difference in the appearance of the trading hall. The fences have been constructed on-site.

The refurbishment has been welcomed by all stakeholders