Del Monte's African Safari
Olsen, David
In the late 1950's a San Francisco banker returned from an East African safari with a story - not of big game - but of a discarded Del Monte can he had found on the trail hundreds of miles into...
...Some of the "incentives" for Del Monte began rolling in, in the form of U.S...
...government-insured loans and loans from Kenyan government agencies...
...Investment in the Third World...
...This claim is contested by the Namibians, but, because of the location of the Namibian populations and the concentration of South African and U.S...
...NAMIBIA Del Monte has other operations in politically volatile Southern Africa...
...But even if South Africa withdraws from Namibia, Del Monte and its sardine processor in Walvis Bay may not be imme- diately affected...
...In 1965, Del Monte bought a minority interest in Kenya Canners, a British-owned canning company that was failing because of the flight of British capital after independence in 1963...
...South Africa claims that Walvis Bay is and has always been part of South Africa, not of Namibia...
...Del Monte management soon ascertained that "many Del Monte products were indeed packed along on expeditions...
...For Del Monte entered production in Africa to tap the Western European markets...
...In 1969, Del Monte acquired majority control of Kenya Canners, and later continued its expansion with a total of $30 million in OPIC-insured loans.* Under Del Monte's original agreement with the Kenyan government, the company agreed to take 80 percent of its production from small-scale Kenyan farmers...
...government institution which promotes and insures private U.S...
...installations in Walvis Bay, it will probably be one of the last points of dispute to be settled...
...The U.S...
...They had a big employment problem and they needed foreign exchange...
...As a Del Monte public affairs officer explained recently, "In Kenya, we were the first to come...
...In 1960, it bought a canning plant in South Africa to take advantage of that country's privileged access to the British market under the British Commonwealth tariff agreements...
...We went in...
...State Department, which had been engineering "political stability" in Kenya for some ten years, encouraged the company to locate there...
...Since 1954, it has shipped sardines from Namibia (South West Africa) to New York, Puerto Rico, and Europe, through a purchasing agreement with one of Namibia's largest fishing and processing concerns, Ovenstone South West Investments...
...Only other secondary crops, such as green beans and tomatoes, are obtained through contracts with local farmers...
...The Overseas Private investment Corporation (OPIC) is a U.S...
...Del Monte then began looking for another Commonwealth nation in Africa...
...David Olsen President Kenyatta of Kenya handing pineapple to Del Monte Vice-President William Druehl Sources: Del Monte Shield and interview with Del Monte official...
...There were incentives to get someone into Kenya...
...KENYA Del Monte does in fact have larger operations in Kenya today, but you won't find many of its cans around East Africa: 95 percent of the company's production is exported to Europe, mainly to Britain and West Germany...
...In the late 1950's a San Francisco banker returned from an East African safari with a story - not of big game - but of a discarded Del Monte can he had found on the trail hundreds of miles into the African interior...
...The company history continues: Del Monte "thus decided to establish a representative in Nairobi, the jumping-off place for most safaris...
...Today, the company maintains its own large plantations on leased land and takes none of its.pineapple production from Kenyan farmers...
...However, according to a source in the UN's Food and Agricultural Organization, this was unacceptable to Del Monte, and the company shut down its plant for several months to pressure the government into changing the agreement...
...But one year later South Africa derailed Del Monte's plans by declaring itself a Republic and withdrawing from the Commonwealth...
...Under intense international pressure, South Africa, which exercises illegal rule over Namibia, has reluc- tantly begun to negotiate limited independence for Namibia's different ethnic groups...
Vol. 10 • September 1976 • No. 7
