South Africa is the largest agricultural producer on the African continent. The country, which has an agri-food surplus, is looking for new trading partners.
Indonesia plans to import 50,000 head of cattle and 300,000 tonnes of soybeans from South Africa. These are the findings of a meeting held on July 11 in Johannesburg between Luhut Pandjaitan (left in photo), Indonesia’s Minister for the Coordination of Maritime Affairs and Investment, and President Cyril Ramaphosa.
According to information relayed by Reuters, this move is part of a desire by both countries to strengthen their bilateral collaboration in the agricultural sector.
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Although the prospect of an agreement has not yet been raised, the rainbow nation sees an opportunity to penetrate the market of the world’s 5th largest importer of live cattle, behind Italy, the USA, China and Egypt.
In 2022, the South Asian country procured over 470 million USD worth of livestock on the international market, according to Trade Map data. Demand for soybeans is just as high, with a production deficit of 2.7 million tonnes per year, while annual consumption requirements exceed 3 million tonnes, according to USDA data.
South Africa, meanwhile, has a soybean production surplus of almost 600,000 tonnes a year and a cattle herd estimated at over 12.3 million head.