Industry bodies implore Premier to engage, honour existing contracts before closing Tulbagh cannery
With food producer Premier Group having announced plans to close its R1-billion Fruit Products Western Cape canning facility, in Tulbagh, and retrench the facility's employees, industry bodies Agri SA, Agri Western Cape and Canning Fruit Producers Association (CFPA) have called for urgent engagement with the company.
The organisations are calling on Premier to honour existing commitments to producers ahead of the 2026/27 harvest and refrain from taking irreversible steps that could undermine the future of the facility and the broader fruit industry.
The Tulbagh cannery processes between 55 000 t/y and 60 000 t/y of fruit and buys about R300-million worth of produce from farmers every year.
More than 200 producers, 2 000 ha of orchards and thousands of permanent and seasonal jobs are connected to the facility and the wider value chain it supports.
