According to Eduardo Cussendala, business manager of Shoprite Angola, after exporting nearly five tons of bananas in 2019, the operators of the South African giant in Angola intend to vary the agricultural export, but point out "obstacles".
"There are some small obstacles on our side, because on the South African side the necessary steps have already been taken, emails have been sent to us and our Ministry of Agriculture needs to respond," explained the responsible during the visit that the Minister of Industry and Trade, Victor Fernandes, made to the logistics base of the establishment.
The South African authorities, he said, require the Ministry of Agriculture to answer questionnaires on pest control in Angola and regretted: "We have been at this obstacle for almost a year.
"If we have the answer, they [South Africans] will give us the export license and we will start," he said, noting that the mechanism is designed to make the over 100 trucks that come from South Africa profitable on the ground and "come back empty.
In the field of exports, he said, "it would be good if they returned with some Angolan merchandise," he insisted.
Besides pineapple, passion fruit, mango, sweet potato and coffee, Shoprite Angola also intends to export beer to South Africa.
Salvador Emílio, Shoprite Angola's general manager of operations, said that before the covid-19 pandemic the supermarket chain estimated sending 20 containers of Angolan beer to South Africa.
"But unfortunately, the situation of covid-19 conditioned the process, because there we have a network of 1200 supermarkets and for us it would be a good investment," he said.
Shoprite Angola, a subsidiary of the largest supermarket chain in Africa, Shoprite South Africa, has been operating in Angola since 2003 and currently has 32 supermarkets in 16 provinces of the country.
