Q & A with Johan H.C. Engelbrecht

Economic Counselor at South Africa’s embassy

Q- Could you tell me what South Africa’s current economic situation is actually like?

A- Thank you for the opportunity. As you know, South Africa is the powerhouse of Africa. It’s the largest economy in Africa. We have also been affected by the world economic crisis and thankfully we were not severely affected as many other countries because in our preparation for the World Cup we already had so many infrastructure projects in place which really served as a buffer against the economic recession.

Our economy also went into recession towards the end of 2008, 2009; but it was not too severe. So what we expect this year is an economic growth of about 1.3 percent and next year we expect that it will grow 2 to 3 percent.

We lost a few jobs in the economy because we have a very open economy and we export quite a substantial amount of products all over the world. So, if the rest of the world is in economic crisis, all our industries in South Africa are also affected.

That is the current situation, but the future looks good and the economy is growing again. It’s very important for us to grow the economy and also to create employment in the South African economy because we have a relatively high unemployment rate and we need more investment from overseas countries. We need to sell more of our products worldwide because the more we sell, the more we manufacture, the more people we can employ.

This is basically the South Africa’s economy, it’s not in a bad state, it looks positive, and we foresee that the economy will again start to grow up as the world’s economy is recovered.

Q- What’s the reason why South Africa is right here, in Barcelona, in the Spanish market?
A- Currently, South Africa mainly exports to Spain our agricultural products. We export a lot of fish to this market and a lot of citrus and other agricultural products. South Africa is a very important agricultural sector, not only farming but also agro processing.

This is why we come to Spain and, by the way, this is our debut in Alimentaria. It’s the first time that we participate by means of a national pavilion in Alimentaria. The purpose is to expose our agro processing industry to, not only Spanish importers, but also maybe to international visitors that come to Alimentaria. We have a wide range of products at the exhibition ranging from meat, spices, peas, peppers, and sauces.

For us expose the industry, to show the people that South Africa is not only about mining, animals and the bush; but we are also producers of a wide variety of agro products.

Q- What are other interesting markets for South Africa?

A- Our most important export markets, traditionally, have always been the United Kingdom, the United States of America, Germany, France, Poland, etc. Spain is a very important and a growing market, its economy is also severely affected by the economic crisis; but we think that it’s the right time now to introduce South Africa’s agro processing products into this market. We hope that we will do very well in this market with the processed products coming from South Africa.

Q- What’s the relation among the economy, price, market and food, because we know South Africa is a country which has had different problems related to food. I need to know what the situation related to the people in South Africa is, people who need food and the market in South Africa, because you told me its market wants to go to other countries.

A- South Africa has always been a net producer of food. We produce more food in South Africa that we consume locally. That’s the reason we provide for our own people, and when there’s a surplus, we look for markets overseas.

We have to export because if you export, you grow the market, you increase your production, you employ more people, the people earn more, they can buy more and you can expand your local industry in South Africa.

Q- Could you tell me what are the different contents of publicity that you use to promote South Africa’s products?

A- We developed a marketing plan that goes inside of Alimentaria. We have done a lot of publicity in order to make this done, we have advertised on our home website, on the website of Alimentaria. We have brought out publications; we have also done a lot of mailings to not only customers in Spain, but also in neighboring countries that we know, people from those countries, importers from those countries will visit Alimentaria to look at opportunities, to look for new products and we really have a number of unique products at our stand showing to the people visiting the show.