African countries are cooking for South Africa.In the first eight months of 2024, South Africa imported agricultural products to the value of R18 billion (12% of the total African imports), with prepared foodstuffs, at R84bn (6.36%), being the largest single category.The next-largest agricultural category is vegetables (R3.6bn or 2.8%) and then live animals (R3.5bn or 2.7%).These figures become more significant when mineral, precious metal and chemical imports are picked out of the mix. Agricultural imports then make up 41% of the total, with prepared foodstuffs at 19%, with vegetables and live animals making up around 8% each. Non-edible agricultural outputs – wood products, wood pulp and paper, and raw hides and leather – make up the bulk of the rest of the basket, with animal or vegetable fats at R48 million being the smallest of the agricultural categories. Oil supplier Nigeria is the top African exporter to South Africa. Next largest is eSwatini, which is a major supplier of chemicals (R7bn), followed by prepared foodstuffs at R5bn. Imports from Namibia are led by precious metals (R10bn), followed by live animals (R2.5bn) and prepared foodstuffs (R1bn). Botswana is also a large supplier of live animals, at R552m. After mineral products – largely gas – at R9bn, South Africa imported R821m worth of vegetables from Mozambique, and R550m worth of prepared foodstuffs. Imports from Ghana and Angola were dominated by mineral products.Other neighbouring suppliers of vegetables to South Africa are Lesotho (R268m), Zimbabwe (R239m) and Zambia (R129m).Of the three, Zimbabwe is the largest supplier of prepared foodstuffs at R589m. ER
