Finance and Economic Opportunities

Concerning Wesgro’s work on the export of mussels to the Russian market:

[1] [a] What is the value of the market and [b] when did it come into effect.

Global Russian import of Mussels [HS160553] reached ZAR781,203,000 in 2021, with Chile dominating as the top import partner at ZAR691,602,000 [Source: Trademap]. At the moment there are no mussel exports from the Western Cape, or South Africa, to Russia [Source: Quantec]. This was also confirmed by the national Department of Forestry, Fisheries and Environment [DFFE] after the Department of Economic Development and Tourism [DEDAT] requested them to provide input. South Africa is currently not exporting mussels to the Russian market, however, the Mussel industry in their quest for market diversification has identified Russia as a market of interest and they have been trying to access the market over the last year or so. 

 [2] whether the Western Cape has benefited in any way from this market in the sixth administration; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details.

There are no mussel exports to Russia currently and therefore, the Western Cape has not benefitted from this market in the sixth administration.

 [3] whether the Province has conducted any other business with the Russian market; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details?

 Russia formed part of Wesgro’s export promotion priority target markets between 2019 and 2021. Russia ranked as the Western Cape’s 11^th  largest export market with R3.6billion [+5% YoY] of goods exported in 2021, representing 2.1% of all Western Cape exports. Western Cape exports to Russia are primarily agriculture and agri-processing goods, and as such Wesgro’s export support for this market is focused on food and beverages. 

Below a list of the top-20 exported products from the Western Cape to Russia from 2019 to 2021:

 

Rank	Product [HS4]	2019	2020	2021
1	HST0805: Citrus fruit, fresh or dried	941 947 820	1 650 000 000	1 700 000 000
2	HST0808: Apples, pears and quinces, fresh	513 947 911	1 141 000 000	936 379 739
3	HST2007: Jams, fruit jellies, marmalades, fruit or nut purée and fruit or nut pastes, obtained by cooking, whether or not containing added sugar or other sweetening matter	101 570 468	73 950 742	175 834 844
4	HST2204: Wine of fresh grapes, including fortified wines; grape must other than that of heading 20.09	284 959 732	174 467 654	171 712 958
5	HST0806: Grapes, fresh or dried	113 469 977	183 110 210	161 120 642
6	HST0809: Apricots, cherries, peaches [including nectarines], plums and sloes, fresh	45 414 901	47 307 264	99 231 894
7	HST8418: Refrigerators, freezers and other refrigerating or freezing equipment, electric or other; heat pumps other than air conditioning machines of heading 84.15	0	0	89 529 785
8	HST0804: Dates, figs, pineapples, avocados, guavas, mangoes and mangosteens, fresh or dried	15 312 180	48 864 465	64 775 478
9	HST2008: Fruit, nuts and other edible parts of plants, otherwise prepared or preserved, whether or not containing added sugar or other sweetening matter or spirit, not elsewhere specified or included	20 190 590	11 716 462	35 379 794
10	HST0811: Fruit and nuts, uncooked or cooked by steaming or boiling in water, frozen, whether or not containing added sugar or other sweetening matter	2 135 642	9 004 965	26 234 948
11	HST0810: Other fruit, fresh	12 235 405	506 091	17 472 167
12	HST0802: Other nuts, fresh or dried, whether or not shelled or peeled	19 911 621	0	14 640 158
13	HST2513: Pumice stone; emery; natural corundum, natural garnet and other natural abrasives, whether or not heat-treated	5 277 776	6 557 935	11 166 933
14	HST3215: Printing ink, writing or drawing ink and other inks, whether or not concentrated or solid	7 913 527	10 066 949	10 354 046
15	HST8432: Agricultural, horticultural or forestry machinery for soil preparation or cultivation; lawn or sports-ground rollers	0	0	10 052 505
16	HST9018: Instruments and appliances used in medical, surgical, dental or veterinary sciences, including scintigraphic apparatus, other electro-medical apparatus and sight-testing instruments	123 282	1 643 561	6 845 080
17	HST3304: Beauty or make-up preparations and preparations for the care of the skin [other than medicaments], including sunscreen or sun tan preparations; manicure or pedicure preparations	5 717 247	1 879 646	6 229 219
18	HST3507: Enzymes; prepared enzymes not elsewhere specified or included	1 471 957	308 752	5 952 379
19	HST0709: Other vegetables, fresh or chilled	1 959 107	1 432 137	5 620 053
20	HST2009: Fruit juices [including grape must] and vegetable juices, unfermented and not containing added spirit, whether or not containing added sugar or other sweetening matter	17 283 882	15 438 501	4 781 515

[Source: Quantec]

Wesgro has executed the following export missions to Russia since 2019:

• September 2019 – World Food Moscow Trade Exhibition [In-Market]
• November 2020 – Russia Food & Beverages Virtual Mission [Virtual]
• March 2021 - Cape Agriculture Export week [Virtual]
• August 2021 - BRICS Trade Fair [Virtual]

Due to the dominance of agricultural goods that have been exported to Russia, before the war in Ukraine, the industry has indicated that this is a market that needs to be explored for Aquaculture products. Therefore, DEDAT has been supporting the efforts of the national departments such as the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and Environmental [DFFE] and the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition [DTIC] to obtain information from Russia on how aquaculture companies can access that market and what are the compliance requirements. As part of the Export Development initiatives within DEDAT, where Boosting Exports and Investments was identified as an enabler of growth and job creation, DEDAT has been working closely with WESGRO to help companies to access international markets such as Russia. Thus, Russia is seen as an untapped market that companies will be encouraged to explore for market penetration and market diversification once when it is appropriate to do so given the war in Ukraine.