Africa is officially the Western Cape’s largest export market, with plans in place for further growth in the next five years. According to Tim Harris, CEO of Wesgro, Africa has officially overtaken Europe as the biggest buyer of Western Cape exports, with current trade of around R45 billion. “Our goal now is to get that figure to R50bn by 2020 – and judging by our current growth trajectory we will get there,” Harris told the Exporters’ Club Western Cape recently. Describing the Western Cape as “an engine for exports into Africa”, Harris said Europe remained a strategic partner for the province with trade of around R36 billion but that Africa was where real growth was being seen. He said the continent represented the single biggest growth opportunity most exporters would see in their lifetimes with an estimated billion consumers by 2050. “The Western Cape has been focusing on diversifying and finding new markets. We have been very successful in Africa,” he said. Some 16% of apples and pears imported into Africa come from the Western Cape, 19% of fruit juice, 22% of wine, 26% of citrus fruit and 59% of fermented beverages. “This is a huge growth market where we have very strategic and dominant market share.”
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Africa has officially overtaken Europe as the biggest buyer of Western Cape exports, with current, trade of around R45 billion. – Tim Harris
