SHAFFE – The Southern Hemisphere Association of Fresh Fruit Exporters has held its Annual General Meeting on the 6th of February 2020 in the margins of Fruit Logistica in Berlin. Among the key elements of discussion have been the increased attention to sustainability matters and climatic challenges as well as the debate about the potential impact of the EU Initiative „European Green Deal“ on international fruit trade. The meeting was also used for a positive review of the association’s past year performance, in which SHAFFE not only welcomed Brazil’s exporter organisation „Abrafrutas“ among its members, but also reviewed it’s communication tools and launched it’s new website www.shaffe.net
„The last year has been a very fruitful year for the organisation – with higher attendance rates in meetings, a modernized website and increased policy monitoring activity“, says Dr. Konanani Liphadzi, CEO of Fruit SA and current president of SHAFFE. She adds: „2020 will be shaped by sustainability topics, an area where the association will increase its activity“. The AGM, held on the 6th of February 2020 in Berlin, was largely dedicated to review the current situation in the Southern Hemisphere countries with regard to legal and volunteering initiatives, responding to climatic challenge as well as in the area of social and labour rights. The meeting also discussed the EU’s Green Deal initiative and the potential impact the discussed measures may have on the international trading environment for temperate fruit trade. SHAFFE countries have already taken leadership in the area of environmental and resource protection and will continue throughout 2020, to search for sustainable solutions to tackle current environmental and regulatory challenges. The association will assists its members in this endeavour.
Overall, the association looks back on a successful year, in which it welcomed the Brazilian producer and exporter association „Abrafrutas“ amongst its members. Brazil ranks among the Top-30 global fruit exporters and has exported roughly 508.000 T of temperate fruits in 2018.1 Abrafrutas has provided great updates on the current production and trading situation in Brazil over the past year and added valuable insights to the knowledge sharing mindset of the organisation.
Moreover, SHAFFE has reviewed its external communication tools and modernized its website . The new website, www.shaffe.net will not only provide regular updates on the organisations activities, but also provides trading figures and detailed overview of all members of the organisation with related background information. SHAFFE has also launched a new Twitter account @ShaffeFruit in parallel, to increase the Southern Hemispheres temperate fruit visibility and communication platforms.
SHAFFE members will continue throughout 2020 to take stock on SPS, TBT and NTB market access barriers in the three key markets of Europe, Asia and the U.S., but will also carefully observe the ongoing international developments to tackle climate change and environmental challenges, and in particular the EU’s Geen Deal endeavour.
