According to Engineering News, Coega Development Corporation (CDC), the state-owned company for the development of 11 500 ha of industrial land in Port Elizabeth, last month announced a R22-million expansion project by agroprocessing company Dynamic Commodities to be developed in Zone 3 of the Coega industrial development zone (IDZ).
This brings the total number of investors, which has increased in the Coega IDZ over the past two financial years, to more than four. These numbers are impressive, says CDC unit head for marketing and communications Dr Ayanda Vilakazi, considering the macroeconomic challenges facing the domestic and global markets. Dynamic Commodities, which exports the bulk of its output, will be expanding its plant to include a warehouse and refrigerated storage facilities to meet its current demand and to increase production to expand its market penetration.
According to Vilakazi, the economic spin-offs resulting from the expansion will create more than 500 job opportunities, with 300 being operational and 200 in construction. Dynamic Commodities buys all the fruit for its products locally, including lemons, oranges, grapefruit, apples, peppers, peaches, melons and pineapples. This enables South African farmers to grow produce on contract specifically for the factory, thereby creating jobs and ensuring sustainability for local farmers, which would otherwise “not have had a market for their products”, says CDC business development senior manager Johan Fourie.
