Public Enterprises Minister, Pravin Gordhan, has moved to assure the agricultural sector that Transnet’s primary objective is to ensure the export of agricultural goods in the face of the ongoing global supply chain and logistics crisis.<\/P>
Shipping, storage, logistics and manufacturing issues continue throughout the world, as the knock on effect of the COVID-19 pandemic, its subsequent lockdowns and resultant closures of large scale manufacturers and related industries begin to take hold.<\/P>
Gordhan was speaking during the conference of one of the country\u2019s biggest farmers\u2019 organisations, Agri SA.<\/P>
\u201cThe logistics issue is one that impacts on you as exporters. From a Transnet point of view, setting up a logistics sector to support the kind of growth and extremely good crops that sub-sectors within the agricultural sector have experienced in the recent past and the encouragement of exports, is a primary objective,\u201d he said.<\/P>
The Minister said his department will be engaging with Transnet to ensure that it ramps up its services.<\/P>
\u201cWe will continue to ask our colleagues at Transnet to make more facilities available, and also to increase the efficiency of the logistics system far more substantially than might have happened until now,\u201d Gordhan said.<\/P>
He said the agricultural sector provides \u201can important opportunity for growth\u201d in the country\u2019s economy and that it is the \u201ccornerstone\u201d of the country\u2019s Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan.<\/P>
Last month, Statistics South Africa\u2019s Gross Domestic Product numbers showed that the sector has contributed at least 0.2% to GDP growth due scaled-up production.<\/P>
\u201cThere are many opportunities that are available to us as a country and as an economy. The agricultural sector has an important place within the GDP of this country, although it might be numerically low but the potential is quite great,\u201d he said.<\/P>
Gordhan said Transnet is looking at new innovations in the future, which would benefit those who use its services.<\/P>
\u201cThese could involve private and public partnerships, it could involve concessions in relation to branch lines, terminals \u2013 both inland and in respect of ports [and] the ownership of wagons by different sectors of our economy. These are new areas which should be up for further engagement between Transnet and [the agricultural sector],\u201d he said. <\/P>
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Source: South African Government News Agency<\/P>
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Public Enterprises Minister, Pravin Gordhan, has moved to assure the agricultural sector that Transnet’s primary objective is to ensure the export of agricultural goods in the face of the ongoing global supply chain and logistics crisis.Shipping, stora…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n