Angola - Agricultural Products Angola - Agricultural Products
Overview
Agriculture accounted for 11 percent of Angola’s USD 114 .5 billion GDP in 2018 (IMF projection) and it provides employment, both formal and informal, for more than 30 percent of the Angolan population. Prior to the 1975-2002 civil war, Angola was a major exporter of coffee, sisal, sugar cane, banana and cotton, and it was self-sufficient in all food crops except wheat. The civil war disrupted agricultural production and displaced millions of people. Angola currently imports more than half of its food. Angola is the United States’ fifth largest market for poultry products in the world, and the third largest market in Africa for all agricultural exports.
Angola has the natural resources to become one of the leading agricultural countries in Africa, as its diverse and fertile ecology is suited for a variety of crops and livestock. However, the country currently only cultivates approximately 10 percent of its 35 million hectares of arable land. An estimated 90 percent of farms in Angola are small to medium in size and are used mainly for communal and subsistence farming. The agricultural commodities produced include cassava, bananas, potatoes, maize, sweet potatoes, citrus, and pineapples.
Chicken remains the major U.S. agriculture export to Angola, and the sale of these products increased significantly in 2018 due to an increase in availability of foreign exchange. Food imports are deemed a high priority for the Angolan government and have thus received priority when it comes to foreign exchange allocations by the Central Bank.
Leading Sub-Sectors
Retail Sector (consumer-oriented food products)
Poultry
Wheat Grain
Opportunities
Retail Sector (consumer-oriented food products)In Angola, food is sold both through modern retail and informal channels. Local industry sources estimate that approximately 70 percent of agricultural produce is channeled through retail sales. Informal retail includes both small grocers as well as open air markets (locally called “Cantinas”). Since the civil war ended in 2002, the importance of the informal market has declined, especially in urban centers such as Luanda, where formal retail is developing rapidly. The government is trying to formalize retail by establishing specific areas for open markets. In Luanda, municipal authorities are forcefully shutting down street venders with laws that impose fines for both vendors and buyers. Public health concerns are the main reason cited for the closures of informal open markets, as goods are often sold in poor condition, food is kept on the ground, without refrigeration and exposed to the sun, and expired goods are sometimes offered for sale.
As many other things in the country, shopping itself is not without challenges. Only a small percentage of Angola’s population owns a car, thus most people are dependent on overcrowded public mini-buses to reach hypermarkets and supermarkets. Consequently, the majority of the population prefers to shop close to home in open air markets or small grocers, which are perceived as offering fresher, less expensive food than formal supermarkets. Even with convenient supermarkets opening in the past few years in the outer areas of Luanda, many Angolans feel more comfortable in informal markets. For this reason, local formal retailers have come up with various strategies to attract the informal market customer. Nosso Super, for example, opened its shops at locations near traditional market places. Hypermarket Kero, in turn, tries to create a comfortable environment for lower and middle-income customers by playing loud Angolan music, and the main cash and carry supermarkets have created a benefits card to reward client purchases.
Changes in consumer profile and demographics, increasing urbanization, improvements in infrastructure, and an increase in the number of international brands available in the Angolan market are driving rapid developments in the retailing landscape. Consumers across income levels are becoming more sophisticated and demanding in terms of variety and quality. In the past, Angolans were satisfied with small grocers selling dry goods, but now retailers are expected to offer frozen goods as well. Historically, Portuguese, Lebanese and Indians have been the dominant players in the Angolan grocery retail market. However, due to the economic downturn since 2014 and the scarcity of foreign exchange, some of these third country traders left Angola. The South African supermarket chain Shoprite is expanding in Angola and new players are entering the formal retail space, to include most recently the hypermarket Candando. Some supermarkets target wealthier Angolans and expatriates, such as Casa dos Frescos and Intermarket, which offer the greatest choice of fresh produce and higher quality standards.
Leading Supermarket Retailers in Angola
| Brand & Company | Outlets |
| Nosso Super (Nova Rede de Supermercados de Angola) | 28 |
| Shoprite and Usave (South African Shoprite) | 17 |
| Maxi Cash & Carry (Teixeira Duarte) | 14 |
| Kero Hypermarket (Zahara Group) | 12 |
| Casa dos Frescos (Casa dos Frescos Group) | 9 |
| Mega Cash & Carry (Refriango Group) | 1 |
| Jumbo | 1 |
| Mazarati (Group Dimassaba) | 1 |
| Fresmart | 2 |
| Deskontão | 1 |
| AngoMart (Newaco group) | 11 |
| Alimenta Angola | 4 |
| MEL | 2 |
| MARTAL | 2 |
| Mercadão Cash & Carry (SODOSA group) | 2 |
| InterMarket | 4 |
| TAKI (NDAD group) | 2 |
| Candando (Contidis) | 6 |
| Poultry and Wheat grain | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 estimated |
| Total Local Production | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total Exports | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total Imports | 353 | 430 | 418 | N/A |
| Imports from the US | 85 | 155 | 183 | N/A |
| Total Market Size | 353 | 430 | 418 | N/A |
| Exchange Rates | 135 | 166 | 245 | 340 |
(total market size = (total local production + imports) - exports)
Units: $ millions
Source: GTA; Angola Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and National Bank of Angola
Poultry
Poultry is the most widely-consumed and most affordable protein in Angola. Angola produces 25,000 tons of broiler meat per year, only 8 percent of total market demand of approximately 316,000 tons per year in 2018. Growers include subsistence farmers, smallholder producers supported by government and non-governmental projects, and commercial operations.
In 2018, Angola was the third largest market for U.S. poultry and poultry product shipments by volume and by value in the world. U.S. poultry exports to Angola remarkably increased by almost 19 percent from 2017 to 2018. More specifically, Angola remains a strong market opportunity for U.S. frozen chicken leg quarters.
Wheat Grain
In the 1960’s and 1970’s, Angola produced about 25,000 tons of wheat grain per year, mainly in the southern Huambo province. The civil war halted wheat production and destroyed flour milling capacity.
Faced with lost oil revenue, the Angola government is encouraging the development of wheat milling to replace relatively costly flour imports as part of its overall economic diversification plan. Angola currently imports about 370,000 tons of wheat flour per year mainly from Turkey and the European Union, at a value of USD 120 million in 2018. By replacing flour imports with wheat imports, Angola can reduce its dependence on foreign exchange as well as boost value-added local production. Wheat milling plants already operating in Angola include the Grandes Moagens de Angola project that has the capacity to produce 1,200 tons of wheat flour per day. The owners of the new GMA mill in Luanda started building an identical wheat mill in the port of Lobito, on Angola’s southern coast. Kikolo wheat mill on the outskirts of Luanda, is operating with a capacity to produce 1000 tons of wheat flour per day. An increased capacity in wheat milling is opening opportunities for U.S. wheat exporters.
Web Resources
Ministry of Agriculture
Ministry of Commerce
Ministry of Health
For more details from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, contact:
Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS Luanda)
U.S. Embassy Luanda
Rua Huari Boumedienne, #32
Miramar, Luanda, Angola
Tel: (+244) 222-641-058
E-mail: Ricardo.Dias@fas.usda.gov
Office of Agricultural Affairs (FAS/USDA)
U.S. Embassy Pretoria
877 Pretorius Street
Pretoria, South Africa 0001
Tel: (+27) 12-431-4057
Fax: (+27) 12-342-2264
E-mail: agPretoria@usda.gov
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS)
U.S. Embassy Pretoria
877 Pretorius Street
Pretoria, South Africa 0001
Tel: (+27) 12-431-4711
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