433369666-The-Case-for-Investing-in-South-Africa

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AGRICULTURE AND AGRO-PROCESSING SECTORS
• South Africa has a well-developed commercial agriculture sector.
• The country’s climatic diversity (including temperate, subtropical and semi-desert) has given rise to a range of soil
types that support the exploitation of a wide array of opportunities across the agribusiness value chain.
• Biodiversity has segmented South Africa into various farming regions for intensive crop production in winter
rainfall and high summer rainfall areas, cattle ranching in the bushveld, and sheep farming in arid regions.
• Approximately 69% of South Africa’s land is suitable for grazing and other livestock farming.
• Key agricultural and related products include corn, wheat, sugarcane, fruits (e.g. apples, citrus fruits, table
grapes, berries), vegetables, nuts (e.g. groundnuts, pecan nuts, macadamias), beef, poultry, mutton, wool, fish
and seafood.
• The agro-processing sector, in turn, has grown rapidly and accounts for a sizeable share of total manufacturing
output. It includes a wide range of food processing activities and beverages production (e.g. juices, wines and
dairy products).
• After enduring drought-induced economic distress in 2015-16, South Africa’s agriculture sector subsequently
recorded robust growth across basically all of its sub-sectors (including field crops, horticulture and animal
farming).
• The food processing sub-sector has maintained robust growth in recent years, exceeding growth in overall
manufacturing sector output by 1.5 percentage points, on average, since 2008.
FOOD PROCESSING INDUSTRY HAS OUTPERFORMED IN TERMS OF TOTAL
VALUE-ADD INTO THE ECONOMY
90
80
Agriculture, forestry and fishing GDP
Food GDP
Beverages GDP
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
ZAR billion at 2010 basic prices
Source (chart): IDC analysis, compiled using data from Statistics South Africa