Photo by: Duane Daws
Eastern Trading Company, trading as Darsot Food Corporation, the controlling shareholder of AH-Vest, which produces All Joy products, is in the midst of acquiring equipment through Rossi Catelli to increase the capacity of a newly bought tomato-processing factory.
“A key objective of [Dursots and All Joy, which are committed to procuring all ingredients in South Africa] is to increase [their] raw materials from 80% to 95% to further reduce exposure to imports,” AH-Vest explained on Monday.
The company highlighted that South Africa had been experiencing a major shortage of tomato paste over an extended period and, as a result, Dursots and All Joy had to rely on imported products.
The tomato-processing factory was expected to guarantee the supply of high-quality tomato paste and curtail the use of imported tomato paste by Dursots and All Joy, with pure tomato paste being a vital ingredient in both brands' products.
The Duiwelskloof, Tzaneen-based factory, in Limpopo, where more than 60% of South Africa’s tomatoes were currently produced, was bought from JSE-listed Tiger Brands.
Collectively the Dursots and All Joy group produced more than 50-million units of value-added products a year out of its five factories in one hub, in Eikenhof, Johannesburg, under the All Joy, Dursots and Veri Peri brands.