US retailer Walmart has selected South Africa’s Rhodes Food Group to supply it with tinned fruit products.
The South African canned food company will supply Walmart with an initial order of three canned pear variations.
These products include premium export quality 425 g cans of pear slices in heavy syrup, 425 g cans of pear halves in juice and 850 g cans of pear slices in heavy syrup.
“With South Africa having some of the world’s best canning fruit varieties, Walmart was impressed with the quality and taste of the pears from Rhodes,” said Massmart, Walmart’s African subsidiary, in a statement on Tuesday.
Rhodes participated in an export potential evaluation meeting with Walmart, together with the Massmart Supplier Development Programme, and 18 South African suppliers, in September last year.
Following the meetings, seven suppliers were identified as having export potential to Walmart’s markets.
The supplier products under consideration included I&J’s abalone and seafood, AVI’s Fresh Pack rooibos tea, Vinimark’s wines, Rhodes’ tinned fruit, Distell’s wines, Green Farms’ macadamia nuts and Glenart’s Christmas crackers.
The Walmart team in January visited the seven suppliers to evaluate their end-to-end supply chains. It was during this visit that Glenart was selected to supply 800 Walmart stores, in the US, with its products.
Rhodes was selected to supply Walmart soon after the trip, with further selections expected during the coming weeks.
Walmart’s export programme stemmed from discussions that took place at the 2019 World Economic Forum, between Trade and Industry Minister Ebrahim Patel and Walmart International CEO Judith McKenna.
The export programme is an extension of the Massmart Supplier Development Programme, which is mandated to assist local suppliers in accessing Walmart’s global markets.