R1.8bn export deals boost for Cape Town

More than R1.8billion worth of export deals have been signed by Cape Town-based companies in the 2018/19 financial year. Picture: Matthew Jordaan/African News Agency (ANA) Archives

More than R1.8billion worth of export deals have been signed by Cape Town-based companies in the 2018/19 financial year. Picture: Matthew Jordaan/African News Agency (ANA) Archives

Published Sep 24, 2019

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Cape Town - More than R1.8billion worth of export deals have been signed by Cape Town-based companies in the 2018/19 financial year.

Mayco member for economic opportunities and asset management James Vos said he was pleased to note that Wesgro, the City of Cape Town’s international trade and investment promotion agency, has helped to facilitate more than R1.8bn worth of export deals for local companies.

Vos said the figures were revealed in Wesgro’s combined quarterly report for the year against a set target of between R103million and R210m.

“As a result of these export deals, 56 business agreements have been signed that will translate into approximately 733 jobs being created by exporters in Cape Town over the next five years,” Vos said.

He added that the agreements were signed with buyers in countries such as Japan, Singapore, China, The Netherlands, Ethiopia, Senegal, France, the UK, Mozambique, Nigeria, Thailand, Malaysia, the US, Kenya, Rwanda and the United Arab Emirates. “They cover key sectors for the Cape Town economy, including agriprocessing, manufacturing, medical devices and cosmetics.”

Wesgro has also reported that as part of the Outward Foreign Direct Investment (OFDI) Strategy, which seeks to help Cape Town companies invest in the rest of Africa, “over 10 OFDI business agreements were signed during the financial year to the value of over R1.4bn. This far exceeded the target range set at between R200m and R500m”.

“This strategy is a critical component of our efforts to leverage the projected growth on our continent, and to help ensure that Cape Town becomes the headquarters of choice for local and global companies looking to do business in the rest of Africa,” Vos said.

He said the Western Cape currently exports more to the rest of Africa than anywhere else in the world, valued at R46bn as of last year.

Stefanus Botes, director of Export Promotion and Support at the Trade and Industry Department, said more entrepreneurs needed to adopt the culture of exporting to assist in reviving the economy and creating more job opportunities.

The Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) also released its financial results and said its Western Cape office contributed R1.6bn of the the corporation's total approvals of R13.1bn in the 2018/19 financial year, which resulted in 573 jobs saved and created during the period.

IDC’s newly appointed regional manager for the Western Cape, Ganief Bardien, said: “Looking at our performance over the past five years, regardless of the economic climate, we are in a great position to contribute to saving key sectors in distress, such as the clothing and textile sector and working on opportunities that present themselves in the new industries and agro-processing space.”

Bardien said the highest number of jobs they created in the past financial year was within new industries, “followed by the media and audio visual sector. With Cape Town being one of the sought-after locations by film producers, there are many opportunities to exploit in this industry and others in the agro-processing space, including the halaal food-producing space.

“I am passionate about our country's development and feel very privileged to be given the opportunity to lead our Western Cape office and be at the forefront of contributing to the province's economic growth,” Bardien added.

“Our country's facing challenging times but it is exactly at times like these that the IDC’s counter-cyclical role as a financier is needed. I have a solid team to work with and we will definitely play our part in improving our country's economy,” he said.

@SISONKE_MD

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Cape Argus

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