Wesgro, Standard Bank, facilitate new agricultural export deal with China

Western Cape provincial trade, tourism and investment promotion agency Wesgro and Standard Bank South Africa have collaborated to support the conclusion of an export deal worth R300-million a year for a Western Cape company and, through it, for a network of mainly women-owned poultry farms in that province and in Mpumalanga province. The deal is for the export of chicken feet to China, and could create 3 000 new jobs across the whole value chain. The company at the centre of this deal is specialist agricultural trading consultancy AskCarlaKote. The enterprise will send 540 t of chicken feet to China every month. Chicken feet, used in stews, soups and as snacks, comprise about 50% of China’s chicken imports every year. Its main traditional suppliers have been Brazil, Vietnam and the US.