Growing exports
remains at the top
of the Western
Cape agenda.
According to Alan Winde,
minister of economic
opportunities, some
significant goals have been
achieved in recent years with
exports reaching R117 billion
in 2015, up from R55 billion
in 2011.
“Our top export market
is Namibia, followed by the
United Kingdom and the
Netherlands,” he said.
While most of the other
countries in the top ten –
Botswana, the United States,
Germany, China, Kenya,
Zambia and Lesotho – have
been partners of the province
for several years, there are still
major opportunities to grow
in these markets.
At the same time the
province has also embarked on
a strategy to find and grow new
market opportunities. Several
African and Middle Eastern
countries have been identified
and include Angola, Nigeria,
Egypt, Cameroon and Sudan
while Saudi Arabia, the United
Arab Emirates, Iran and Qatar
are potential halal markets to
grab.
“Growing our foothold in
India, Pakistan, Bangladesh,
China, Indonesia, Thailand and
Singapore is also important,”
said Winde. “Efforts to increase
our exports to the USA,
especially in terms of wine and
other agricultural products, are
also high on the agenda.”
He said Africa however
remained a
key priority.
It was the
Western
Cape’s top
export region,
accounting
for 36.7% of
exports, valued at R43bn, in
2015. This was followed by
Europe and Asia accounting for
28.5% and 16.1% respectively.
“The Western Cape’s
total agricultural and agriprocessing
exports to Africa in
2015 totalled R15 billion. This
is after real growth of 22% per
annum over the past ten years,”
he said. “The halal markets in
Africa offer real opportunity.
In this regard we are keen
to to establish a foothold in
Cameroon, which is a gateway
to the halal market in the
region, and Angola and Kenya,
which are key markets in the
Southern African Development
Community (SADC) region
and East Africa respectively.
We have seen
an increase in
the export of
fruit to these
markets.”
According
to Winde the
province’s
agricultural sector remains an
integral export offering with
citrus, wine, apples, pears
and grapes still in the top five
export products.
He said the sector had been
extremely hard hit by the
drought in 2016 and estimates
were around R1.2 billion losses
to the wine and fruit industries
alone during the year.
INSERT
36.7% The percentage of Western Cape
exports to Africa.
