South Africa has enjoyed a reputation as an exporter of excellent quality foods

From DION HENRICK in Cape Town
CAPE TOWN – A SOUTH African company, Berfin, is discounting the frosty relations between the two countries in its mission to expand to Nigeria.
The Cape Town-based food exporter will form part of a20-member strong delegation of South African companies the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) will lead to Ghana and Nigeria on a trade mission from March 20-25.
Senior Marketing Manager at Berfin, Portia Schippers, is enthusiastic ahead of the mission.
She said any business wishes to export their products and services should take advantage of the mission to West Africa.
“It is an opportunity to check the market and see if the market can be valuable for one’s products. Most people still think that Africa has nothing to offer, but that is not true,” said Schippers.
Berfin is a local company specialising in the manufacturing of juices, cooking sauces, condiments, spices, sweets, chutneys, salad dressings, stocks, canned items, dried fruit and non-alcoholic sparkling grape juices.
The mission forms part of the DTI’s objective to identify and create export markets for South African value-added products and services.
It also serves to promote South African products, and service offerings, and to also create business partnerships between business communities of the three respective countries.
Sectors targeted for the mission are agro-processing, electro-technical, infrastructure, mining and capital equipment.
South Africa’s exports to Nigeria increased from R6,4 billion in 2012 to R8,3 billion in 2015, slightly declining to R6,4 billion in 2016.
The two countries continuously traded goods at high capacity and Nigeria maintained the trade surplus of R23 billion in 2016, Trade Minister, Rob Davies, confirmed.
– Guardian