[ACCI-CAVIE] South Africa is planning to more than double trade with Uganda over the next five years as it seeks to source more vanilla, coffee and cocoa from the East African country and export more construction equipment in return.

President Cyril Ramaphosa said in 2022 two-way trade between the countries amounted to $130m – down on the previous year’s figure of $161m.

“When it comes to trade and investment linkages between South Africa and Uganda there is certainly room for improvement,” Ramaphosa said at the SA-Uganda Business Forum.

“South Africa is open to increasing the quantity and diversity of products we source from Uganda, because the success of intra-Africa trade hinges on each of us sourcing from one another and prioritising ‘made and grown in Africa’ products and services.”

Ramaphosa said it was important to build relationships between major South African food producers and Ugandan suppliers of vanilla, coffee and cocoa for the confectionary industry.

“Global food supply disruptions and changing climatic conditions have underscored the need for improved irrigation in farming,” he said.

And he added that a drive to build infrastructure in Uganda could offer opportunities to South African firms.

“Uganda’s construction drive and increasing urbanisation offer substantial opportunities in the supply of electro-technical equipment by South African manufacturers,” he said.

However Ramaphosa also called for the reduction of regulations and red tape at ports and border crossings which were hindering trade.

“We are therefore implementing structural reforms in key network industries such as electricity, ports, rail, telecommunications and water,” he said.

A World Bank blog post in February said: “The borders between African countries rank among the most restrictive in the world – one reason why there is relatively little intra-African trade and investment.”

By Andrew Allen and LB