DTI is creating
trade hubs
TRADE WITH India is developing steadily although SA exports have a larger claim to fame than imports from India.
The latest trade figures - released at end June, and forwarded to FTW by Whitehouse & Associates - show exports in 1999 have grown by 50% over the 1998 figure, to reach a total of R2.1-billion.
SA imports, meantime, slipped a little - falling 12.5% to R1.4-bn.
In the preceding four years, imports totalled: 1995 - R888-million; 1996 - R1.1-bn; 1997 - R1.6-bn; 1998 - R1.6-bn.
Exports, however, have had a more impressive upward trend. In 1995 they were R659-m; 1996 - R1.1-bn; 1997 - R1.2-bn; 1998 - R1.4-bn.
The bulk of the outgoing traffic is in basic raw materials - with the minerals; chemicals; base metals and products thereof; and iron and steel categories the main performers. And it can be assumed, according to Liz Whitehouse, that the Asian slump of '98 probably restrained the growth rate in that year.
Again on the import side the major part of the total comes from three categories - vegetable products (spices and the like); chemicals and textiles.
And, according to Whitehouse, India is worth keeping a keen eye on for trade potential.
The Department of Trade & Industry is creating hubs of trade, she told FTW, then looking to sign up bi-lateral trade agreements with countries in that region.
The focuses at the moment are on India, Nigeria, Egypt and Brazil.
This, along with a to-and-fro traffic in trade and industry delegations, further points to India as an area of future potential growth, Whitehouse added.
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