ProFound is proud to have been part of the launch of the South African natural ingredients export strategy 16-17 October 2018.
The natural ingredients sector is a key segment of the government’s re-industrialisation drive, with vital links to key economic policies such as the National Development Plan, Industrial Policy Action Plan and the New Growth Path. Economic growth needs to accelerate in a more inclusive manner and the natural ingredients sector is one sector that can achieve this.
This sector holds great potential for South Africa because the global cosmetics, health and food markets are growing, in particular for natural products – Claudy Steyn, Chief Director of Chemicals, Cosmetics, Plastics and Pharmaceuticals at the Department of Trade and Industry (dti)
Success stories, exciting progress in legislation, services & producer networks and ways to move forward with new companies and new products were all part of the conference. We worked with Jim Tersteeg, CBI and the dti cosmetic export desk on this strategy for the last three years.
Different projects, companies and government organisations are taking actions that were prioritised in the strategy. Key examples are:
- supporting trade in biodiversity products and resolving constrains in access and benefit sharing practices in South Africa
- working on compliance to standards in the essential oils sector
- market access for ingredients’ suppliers aiming to export to Europe
More actions are needed still. Particularly to improve sector coordination, simplify funding options to come help companies to transition from ideation to pilot to commercial scale, and working on sustainability in value chains.
ProFound and Kruger and Swart Associates, our partner in South Africa, engaged with various donors and public and private partners to build a partnership and develop a project to take these and other steps.
Ms Claudy Steyn – Chief Director of Chemicals, Cosmetics, Plastics and Pharmaceuticals at the Department of Trade and Industry (dti)