‘Benefits of Brics remain to be seen’

There’s been no positive impact yet on import pricing, tariffs and duties from Brics says Hilton Tait of FT Global Logistics. Change needs to occur in traditional trade alliances for Brics to develop further, he added. “All the other Brics partners are large economies. They have cheap labour and they import raw materials with limited imports of finished goods. “Exports from SA to China remain very difficult because of pricing issues, but hopefully a weaker rand may mean we can ramp up in order to gain entry.” But despite the difficulties, success stories do exist, like VW SA which is growing exports from SA into China. “We need to see more of this type of trade into Brazil, China, India and Russia.” FT Global Logistics has seen more imports from China and India, but Tait doubts this is because of Brics. “The Indian supply source is growing, due more to the quality and supply of goods as well as pricing than preferential trade agreements within Brics. We did have a small temporary drop-off in Far East imports with the surge in US dollar rates of exchange, but this was due to precautionary measures, and orders have been re-instated as the rand seems to have stabilised. “A challenge for SA manufacturers is the ‘value for money’ China and India offer. Imports have replaced local manufacturing in some instances,” he said. FT Global Logistics is part of the First TechGroup and the group’s activities highlight this trend. “The group is very optimistic about the year ahead and it has invested in tooling and plant refurbishments and expansion based on future projections. While this bodes well for the manufacturing sector, we have done a lot of work on efficiencies and we have streamlined production to match demand – but we supplement this with Far East and other imports where we can source goods more efficiently.” Tait remains upbeat. “All our manufacturing companies have full order books and back orders. All the group factories are working at full capacity, with some working three eight hour shifts on a seven-day week, just in order to meet production.”