Welcome to the Agribusiness Team!
The Agribusiness Team is represented by members of the U.S. Commercial Service – U.S. Department of Commerce, Foreign Agricultural Service – U.S. Department of Agriculture, State Regional Trade Groups, and various State Departments of Agriculture.
This site provides U.S. companies involved in food processing and packaging equipment, agricultural machinery and equipment, agricultural products, processed foods, agricultural chemicals, agricultural services and hotel/restaurant equipment with up-to-date information to help your company succeed internationally. We have a worldwide network of agribusiness specialists dedicated to helping you export!
Agribusiness Team Events/Activities – 2012/2013
The Agribusiness Team is active at many trade shows all over the world, offering business matchmaking, opportunities to learn from country/industry experts, and much more. See all of the 2012/2013 events/activities in which the Agribusiness Team is involved!
View a Trade Data Snapshot
Below are links to view trade data snapshots for selected NAICS codes. Additional trade data is available through the TradeStats Express Database.
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| Trade Mission to South Africa and Zambia -- Agricultural Machinery & Eq., Electrical Power Systems, Mining Industry Eq., Transportation Serv. (other than Aviation) | ||||
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| Event Summary: | ||||
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South Africa is a middle-income country with abundant natural resources, and well-established financial, legal, communications, energy, and transport systems. Its economy is the largest in Africa, and is characterized by strong financial and manufacturing sectors. The country is a leading exporter of minerals, and tourism is a key source of foreign exchange. Since the end of the apartheid in 1994, South Africa has made considerable economic progress. Sound economic management and structural reforms, supported by favorable external conditions in recent years, have led to higher growth, lower and more stable inflation, sound public finances, and a healthy financial system.
As an impact of the global economic crisis, South Africa's economic growth weakened in 2008 and went into recession in 2009, reflecting a sharp decline in external demand and falling world prices of some of its major exports. Nevertheless, South Africa's economy weathered the global crisis relatively well mainly due to sound macroeconomic policies, its flexible monetary and exchange rate regime, and a well-supervised financial system. The fiscal policy has also been appropriately countercyclical, balancing between supporting economic activity and preserving medium-term sustainability. As a result of that and solid consumption growth, economic growth rebounded in 2010. As of 2011, the country's GDP exceeded its pre-crisis peak and output remained below potential.
Zambia has a record of political stability since independence in 1964, including peaceful, multi-party elections since 1991. In the past decade, Zambia has added economic stability and growth, making it an even more attractive investment and trade destination. The country has recorded positive economic growth for 11 consecutive years, including more than six percent growth on average for the past five years, with 2010 real GDP growth at 7.6 percent and 2011 growth predicted to be 6.8 percent. With B+ sovereign ratings from Fitch and Standard and Poors, the GRZ is poised to tap international debt markets to help address its energy and transport infrastructure development needs. Zambia was named a “Top 10 Reformer” in the World Bank's 2011 Doing Business report and placed 76th out of 183 countries. Zambia is a member of the Southern African evelopment Community (SADC) and the Common Market for Southern and Eastern Africa (COMESA).
The participation fee for small and medium-sized companies is $4350. The participation fee for large companies is $4900. |
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| Contacts: | ||||
| Frank Spector, Trade Event Programs Lead International Trade Specialist Phone: 202-482-2054 Frank.Spector@trade.gov | ||||
| Larry Farris, Johannesburg Senior Commercial Officer Phone: 27 11 290 3316 Larry.Farris@trade.gov | ||||
