South African Export Hits A Staggering $13.5b Record
South Africa’s agricultural sector hits a staggering $13.5 billion record high. Considering the previous year’s was 3% less than the new record, this is a remarkable milestone for the agricultural exports in South Africa. Image source: futurefarming, John Deere
The country has faced difficulties with logistics in the recent years. “Although South Africa’s transport infrastructure is among the best on the continent, a lack of maintenance and infrastructure investment, with a resultant shift from rail to road, as well as congested and inefficient ports, has led to delays in cargo handling and increased costs for shipping companies…”, ITA wrote in a recent article. Despite these challenges, the sector continued to realize astonishing export activity.
The products that dominated the export list include, citrus, apples, nuts, wine, soy beans, sugar, wool, grapes, berries, avocados, pears, corn and fruit juices. This was reported by TV BRICS, a partner of Pretoria News. Wandile Sihlobo, the chief economist of the South African Chamber of Agribusiness believes what drove the increase of export activity is due to sales and price dynamics. According to Sihlobo, the African continent remained a leading market, accounting for 38% of SA’s agricultural exports in 2023 in value terms. Asia was the second-largest market, accounting for 28% of exports, followed by the EU at 19%.
Trade Surplus
South Africa’s trade is not one way, the country is also a various importer of various agricultural products. In 2023, agricultural imports were up to $7 billion which was 4% less than the previous year by a cause of commodity prices while the value of imported prices remained unchanged from the previous years.
“While the South African export expansion is encouraging, SA should stay focused on improving infrastructure efficiency and its export market expansion mission for the agricultural sector.” Sihlobo stated. There is a need for an increase in investments within the logistic industry and infrastructure, more especially in road and rail, in the farming towns.
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