Millions of dollars in export opportunity lost by inward - looking manufacturers SOUTH AFRICAN businessmen are notoriously lazy when it comes to exporting, Department of Trade and Industry spokesman Ismail Lagardien told FTW this week.
Our businessmen are notoriously slothful when it comes to marketing exports, he said.
The department is constantly frustrated by the lack of response to government initiatives to promote local products overseas. He said attempts to arrange overseas trade missions and entice foreign buyers to South Africa often came to nothing because of the lack of interest.
Lagardien said huge orders from overseas companies illicited little or no response. Orders worth millions of dollars were passed on to other exporting nations because of South African apathy.
He cited examples of a company that wanted to buy 25 000 tons of cement a month; and a US beer company that wanted to buy one million plastic bottles a month. Both orders were lost because of lack of interest.
Part of the problem is that our economy has been inward looking, he said. Sanctions-era policies promoted self-sufficiency and companies manfactured to serve local, not export needs.
Export was seen as a market for surplus products unsold locally, not as a potentially huge market on its own.
Lagardien said another difficulty was the lack of capacity in local industry. Few companies had up-to-date machinery to produce competitive exports. Nor do they spend enough on training their workforce.
It is crucial that we break out of the capacity constraints we face if we are to grow the economy, he said.
Lagardien suggested South African exporters concentrate on smaller, niche markets rather than trying to compete with large exporting nations like China and the USA.
We must find niche markets where we can deliver, he said.
