China Inc beats SA Inc in Africa project cargo stakes

South African exporters are really only treading water when it comes to trade in Africa, says Duncan Bonnett of Whitehouse & Associates. “At a fundamental level we need to reassess South Africa Inc if we want to compete with the likes of China and Brazil in Africa,” he told FTW. “When one looks at China and their involvement in Africa it becomes clear we have serious competition on our hands because they are going at it as China Inc and therein lies their success.” He said while South Africa had a variety of organisations to promote trade, none were truly working together to facilitate processes and encourage exports on the African continent. “And South Africans fundamentally don’t understand Africa in terms of its needs, business practices or expectations. China, on the other hand, does.” In 2000 South African exports were slightly larger than China’s to the rest of Africa – some US$3.9billion compared to US$3.6 billion. “By 2005 China’s exports were roughly double ours – and by 2009, 3.5 times ours,” he said. “South Africa is not alone in seeing market share decline. The EU countries have been badly hit – France and the UK in particular as well as other Asian countries.” Bonnett said while this had resulted in a renewed focus of energies by countries such as Brazil, Mexico, Australia, Canada and the US, South Africa on the other hand was plodding along and “treading water”. “In Angola there are 27 projects taking place at present that require large amounts of steel. That steel is being imported from all over the world instead of from South Africa. We are missing out on opportunities on our doorstep,” said Bonnett. “Another case in point is the 40 projects being tracked in southern Africa by the cement industry currently. Only one of these projects has South African involvement.” He said South Africa was still far too insular, only exporting as far as Malawi and never venturing much further. “We need to look at out business culture sooner rather than later if we want to benefit from the projects and developments taking place on the continent.”