Cape Town - Almost all the fresh fruit and vegetables in the Cape Town Market are brought in by truck. After Wednesday’s fuel hike South African farmers face higher freighting costs this month, and consumers could see that hitting their pockets.
Uthmaan Rohe is a commission market agent at the Cape Town Market in Epping. Speaking from the trade floor on Wednesday morning he said the fresh produce industry practically ran on diesel.
“Farmers rely on diesel to plow fields,” said Rohe. “Diesel is also the fuel used to bring the produce to the markets as well as the bigger buyers doing the distributions away from the market.”