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Grahamstown-based agro-processing company, Carara, says access to the Chinese consumer market offers fantastic opportunities for Eastern Cape agroprocessing ventures.
Carara, one of the largest processors of pickled cherry peppers in South Africa, was last month included in the 30-month-long exhibition at the Ningbo trade fair in China by the Eastern Cape Development Corporation.
"Access to the massive Chinese consumer market offers fantastic opportunities for Eastern Cape agro-processing ventures as it could serve as a channel for its products to larger markets within China and the rest of the world," says managing director Mike Duxbury.
"At peak production, Carara is the single largest employer in Grahamstown with a full staff complement approaching 1000. Taken together, Carara and its subsidiary facilities have created approximately 2 000 and 2 500 on-farm seasonal jobs. We are a highly labour-intensive business and with our latest expansion we will provide approximately 2 500 seasonal factory jobs and up to 3 000 seasonal on farm jobs in the 2013 season," Duxbury says.
Zodwa Kepeyi of the ECDC says the "ECDC's responsibility to increase the value of trade means it has to explore new opportunities made possible by various trade policies."
"Subsequently, the corporation identified the City of Ningbo as a suitable location after several trade missions it executed in partnership with the Department of Trade and Industry (dti) to Chinese cities such as Beijing, Hong Kong and Xaimen," said Kepeyi.
