CHAIRMAN OF the Export Council for the Clothing Industry in SA, Jack Kipling believes that those manufacturing industries that are basically assemblers of foreign imported components are less affected by a strong rand - as the cost of inputs are reduced. “But,” he told FTW, “clothing industry exports are largely based on local inputs - pipeline beneficiation from raw materials upwards. “Therefore, whilst positive for the SA economy in total, it does mean that exports of apparel from South Africa bear the full brunt of the strong currency. “In the current circumstances it is reasonable to expect a shift away from SA.” However, Kipling stressed that all the leading forecasts point to a weakening of the currency over the longer term. “An exchange rate of R9/US$ puts the SA clothing industry into a good position on international markets,” he said, “and we do not require the currency to reach levels of above that in order to compete.”
