Agri export opportunities

South American economies
have remained depressed
over the past year and
economists have forecast a
gloomy outlook for the coming
months.
Nedbank economist Isaac
Matshego said despite the
economic woes of countries
such as Brazil and Argentina
there were still potential
opportunities for SA
businesses to export to the
continent, especially in the
animal agricultural sector,
while exports in automotive
parts and industrial goods
remained strong trading
areas.
“South America is not a
trade area that SA has paid a
lot of attention to in the past.
We have been looking east
and to the oceanic economies
and to the EU and US but I
believe South America offers
a lot of opportunities for us
if you look at the size of the
population,” he said.
“If we can get our act
together there is opportunity
for the agricultural sector. We
have a really well developed
agricultural sector and if
supported we can expand
output – especially in animal
production in the beef
industry,” he said.
However, he added that
it was not easy to compete
because farmers in Brazil
were subsidised, making them
more globally competitive for
products such as chicken and
sugar.
Motshego added that the
economies of Brazil and Chile
were structured similarly
to SA which also made it
difficult to compete.