Table potatoes 

During the past two years the producers used the new potato logo and information about storing, the nutritional value of potatoes and wealth of potatoes recipes to market and promote their product. Colourful new designs were on display at the markets, illustrating that the product’s packaging is still a creative way to promote the product.

The industry currently relies on two suppliers of paper for the packaging of potatoes. The local producer of paper, namely Sappi, supplies the bulk of the paper, with Gerber Paper Products importing the balance mostly from Scandinavian countries and from Brazil. All the paper complies with the strict specifications of the Department of Agriculture. These suppliers bring approximately 13 000 tons of paper to the industry, which is converted into more than 157 million 10 kg potato pockets. The prices of potato packaging change from year to year due to the dramatic variation of the international pulp price. Over the past few years the pulp price experienced a lot of changes - mainly upwards - that caused the price of paper to rise. This, in turn, caused the price of potato pockets to rise.

In the Potato Industry the Packaging Forum takes care of the supply of paper and packaging to the industry and also ensures that the packaging is manufactured according to the specifications prescribed by the Department of Agriculture. The Packaging Forum is also responsible for continuous testing of packaging, conducting trials with new types of packaging, and looking at new technology in the industry. The Packaging Forum has saved the industry millions of rand over the past few years and was also responsible for negotiating better prices with regard to paper supply. During the year under review the Forum also looked at the different potential sizes of packaging. Many discussions took place around following the global trend towards smaller packages, such as 7 kg and 20 kg bags.