Export Market
Exporting to Southern Africa
Serving South Africa's established specialty and ethnic food retail sector via sea freight through Durban.
Serving South Africa's established specialty and ethnic food retail sector via sea freight through Durban.
Our Southern African export activity is currently centred on South Africa, where demand for our canned goods and spice ranges comes primarily from specialty grocers, African and East African diaspora retailers, and importers supplying the broader Southern African Development Community (SADC) region from South African distribution hubs. It is our most distant African market by sea, and the one where container consolidation matters most to keeping freight costs competitive for buyers.
Unlike our East Africa and Horn of Africa routes, shipments here move exclusively by sea, which means Southern Africa orders are best planned around container schedules rather than as one-off urgent shipments.
Canned vegetables and beans travel well over the longer sea transit and are the anchor product for most South African orders.
Available for South African buyers with reefer container capacity; typically ordered alongside ambient goods to justify container costs.
Long shelf-stable bakery ingredients are well suited to the longer sea transit time to Durban.
A strong seller through specialty and East African diaspora grocers stocking authentic Kenyan spice blends.
Food imports into South Africa are regulated primarily under the Foodstuffs, Cosmetics and Disinfectants Act, administered through the Department of Health and Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development. Importers require a valid import permit for many processed food categories, and consignments must meet South African labelling requirements (including nutritional information in the prescribed format) before customs release at Durban.
We supply full FSSC 22000, ISO 9001 and KEBS export certification with every shipment, along with a certificate of origin and phytosanitary certificate for canned vegetable and fruit products, to support the buyer's import permit application.
Nearest Port / Route
Mombasa (origin) to Durban (destination) — sea freight
Typical Lead Time
14–21 days transit, plus South African customs clearance
Cargo is containerised at Mombasa and shipped via feeder or direct sailing to Durban, South Africa's primary container port, with onward inland distribution arranged by the buyer or their clearing agent. Because this is a full sea-freight route, we recommend Southern African buyers plan orders around monthly or bi-monthly container consolidation rather than small, frequent shipments — combining canned, dehydrated and spice categories into a single container is the most cost-effective way to order from this region.
Request FOB/CIF pricing for Southern Africa and our export team will respond within 2 business days.