Directorate: Agro-processing Support

agriculture,forestry & fisheriesDepartment: Agriculture, Forestry and FisheriesREPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA

Highlights of quarter 3, 2012 (July-September):• The average producer and consumer prices in-

creased by 4,9% and 5,2%, respectively. Whencompared to the average producer and consumerpriceinflation,thegrowthintheproducerpricewashigher formanufactured food (9%), footwear (8%),rubberproducts(6,9%),tobacco(6,2%),leatherandleatherproducts(6,1%)andbeverages(5,3%).

• The volume of production growth of most of theagro-processingindustrywaslowercomparedtothepreviousquarter.Amongthefewagro-processingdi-visionsthatexpandedproductionduringthequarterarebeverages,wearingapparel,furnitureandwoodproducts.

• Exceptforrubberandwoodproducts,whoseexportgrowthsurpassedimportgrowth,foralltheremain-ing divisions, the quarter-to-quarter import growthwashigherthantheexportgrowth.Asaresult,thetrade deficit of agro-processing widened from R9435millioninthepreviousquartertoR12820during2012:Q3.

• Thecontractionofproductionandexportsduringthethirdquarterinmostoftheagro-processingdivisionsinducedthe lossof3171formal jobscomparedtothepreviousquarter.Mostofthejobswerelostinthe

food,woodproductsandwearingappareldivisions.

Theproducerpriceforthedomesticoutputofagro-processing showed a growth above the averageproducerpricegrowth(4,9%)formanufacturedfood(9%),footwear(8%),rubberproducts(6,9%),tobac-co(6,2%),leatherandleatherproducts(6,1%)andbeverages (5,3%).Otheragro-processingproductsthat showeda lowergrowth rate than theaverageproducer price are paper products (4,8%), woodproducts (3,5%), furniture (3,4%), textiles (3,4%)

Source:StatisticsSA

Compared to the previous quarter, wearing apparelandbeveragesshowedamoderateproductiongrowthof5,7%and4,6%,respectively.Theproductiongrowthwas modest for furniture (2,1%) and wood products(0,7%). Production, however, decreased for paperproducts (-1%), footwear (-1,4%), textiles (-1,6%),leather products (-2,4%), food products (-2,8%) andrubberproducts(-7,4%).

Source:StatisticsSA

Agro-processing

Quarterly Brief: No. 3, 2012

All correspondence can be addressed toTheDirector:Agro-processingSupport

PrivateBagX416,Pretoria,0001,SouthAfrica

Tel:+27123198458/8457Fax:+27123198093

E-mail:DES@daff.gov.za

Thispublicationisalsoavailableontheinternetat:http://www.daff.gov.za

Export growth was robust for wood products (47%),rubberproducts(13%)andfootwear(12%).Itwasmod-est forwearing apparel (5%), paper products (4,4%),furniture(3,3%),foodproducts(3,5%)andnegligibleforbeverages(0,2%).Theexportoftobacco(-25,6%)andleatherproducts(-13,7%),however,declinedconsider-ably,whileexportoftextiles(-2%)decreasedmodestly.

Apartfromtheimportsoftobaccoandrubberproductsthatcontractedby10%and2,3%,respectively,duringthethirdquarterof2012,importsincreasedconsidera-blyformostoftheremainingagro-processingproducts;beverages(72,4%),footwear(54,5%),leatherproducts(47,4%),furniture(31,3%),wearingapparel(25%),tex-tiles (26,6%),paperproducts (13,8%),woodproducts(6,1%)andfoodproducts(4%).Asaresult, the tradedeficitofagro-processingwidenedfromR9435millioninthepreviousquartertoR12820during2012:Q3.

Source:QuantecEasyData

Agro-processing lost 3 171 formal jobs compared tothepreviousquarterfollowingadismalproductionandexport growth inmost divisionsduring the thirdquar-ter. Among the divisions, however, additional formalemploymentwascreatedinthefurniture(1133jobs),paper and paper products (561 jobs), footwear (468jobs), beverages and tobacco (355 jobs) and leatherand leather product (26 jobs) divisions. A significantnumber of formal jobswere lost in the food products(3877jobs),woodproducts(916jobs)andwearingap-parel(686jobs)divisions.Inaddition,rubberproductsandtextileslost78and157formaljobs,respectively.

Source:StatisticsSA