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Eastern Cape Business 2022-23

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The Eastern Cape sends citrus and cars to the world Lemons to China and bakkie-making kits to Kenya are new items in the export basket. The first consignment of Eastern Cape lemons is given a last inspection at the Maydon Wharf Fruit Terminal in Durban. Credit: Citrus Growers’ Association of Southern Africa Thursday 17 February 2022 was a red letter day for farmers in the Sundays River Valley and for South Africa’s citrus industry. On that day, a first shipment of lemons was loaded onto ships from the fruit terminal in Durban harbour en route to China. The long and complicated procedure of becoming compliant with health and import procedures started with work done by Citrus Research International (CRI) scientists in 2013. CRI and the National Department Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development hosted scientists from China in 2015 and negotiations have continued ever since. South African citrus growers spend R150-million annually on research which is then used by the DALRRD in their international negotiations. In this case, it paid off with a R325-million deal which has the potential to grow exponentially. South Africa hopes to eclipse Argentina and Chile as suppliers of lemons to China, targeting 25 000 tons of lemons to that country by 2024. Exports of grapefruit, oranges and soft citrus to China totalled 130 000 tons in 2020. More good news from South-East Asia came in the form of a first consignment of citrus fruit being accepted into the Philippines. The citrus industry has been identified in the National Development Plan as a priority sector because it employs many people and it can improve the country’s balance of payments. According to the Sundays River Valley Citrus Producers Forum, black citrus farmers have increased the volumes of their exports by 40%, with a total of 1.6-million cartons exported in 2020. However, exporting fruit of the Eastern Cape is not as straightforward as it might seem. All of South Africa’s ports have been struggling in recent times to keep up with demand. The province’s three ports are no exception, with some of the citrus fruit originating in the Eastern Cape having to be trucked to Durban or Cape Town, adding costs to the operation. The industry also battles with a shortage of shipping containers and high demand for cold-storage facilities. In April 2021, an MSC vessel was diverted to Gqeberha to offload 1 995 refrigerated containers just in time for the citrus-picking season. There is a global shortage of these specialised containers. EASTERN CAPE BUSINESS 2022/23 16

FOCUS Investors are investing and exports are growing The Trade, Investment and Innovation Unit of the ECDC is committed to promoting trade with and investments into the Eastern Cape. Entrepreneurs graduating from the Exporter Development Programme run by the ECDC in partnership with the Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber. The Trade, Investment and Innovation Unit markets the Eastern Cape to investors, supports existing investors, promotes exports and the ECDC as an implementing agent for development initiatives. Trade Promotion The Trade Promotion Unit provides opportunities to export-ready local businesses to penetrate local and foreign markets by means of non-financial support. Major export markets are Germany, Hong Kong, the US, China, Netherlands, Namibia and India. Once a company has been assessed as “exportready”, the unit facilitates annual trade missions, exhibitions and thematic workshops to offer networking platforms, trade/export knowledge and access to prospective clients in targeted countries. Investment The Investment Promotion Unit is the official investment promotion agency of the Eastern Cape Province. The unit actively markets the province ECDC contact details Address: 1 Moore Street, Quigney, East London Tel: +27 43 704 5604 Email: info@ecdc.co.za Website: www.ecdc.co.za and facilitates foreign and local direct investment. Services include lobbying for conducive policy, aftercare investor services, assistance to investors to access incentive schemes and local business networks, providing market information and facilitating access to greenfield and brownfield sites. Investors will find four universities and a number of TVET colleges which offer high-impact tertiary education. Set-up costs for new business are extremely competitive in terms of land and rental prices, construction costs and overall input costs. The Eastern Cape has three ports, four airports and good road and rail links and offers easy access to domestic, SADC and global markets. Local, provincial and national government have a range of investment incentives available for new and existing operations. These incentives range from manufacturing rebates to preferential production factor costs. Innovation The Innovation sub-unit facilitates strategic domestic and international investment into sectordriven, catalytic innovation projects. The sub-unit facilitates investment and growth into new industry sectors introduced by the global shift to the Fourth Industrial Revolution. This is achieved through: support for catalytic and high-impact projects that can unlock eco nomic activity and promote local beneficiation and diversification; promotion of new products that encourage import substitution; growth of a pipeline that creates viable opportunities for the Development Finance and Properties Development units and for government and entrepreneurs. ■ EASTERN CAPE BUSINESS 2022/23

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