Figures reveal big divergence in Customs data for China imports

SIX MONTHS of SA quotas on Chinese textiles and clothing imports have not achieved their ultimate objective – failing to give the local clothing and textile industry relief from other cut-price producers – and have also revealed an anomaly in terms of Customs data. According to Johann van Eeden of the Trade Law Centre (tralac), in the first half of 2007 there has been a divergence between SA Revenue Service (Sars) import data and Chinese customs export data. “Chinese figures have always been recorded at a higher level,” said Van Eeden, “averaging around 1.5 times its SA import equivalent. But, in the second quarter of 2007, this ratio has more than doubled to 3 .55 for the quota lines.” He questions the sudden divergence. “Does this point to insufficient monitoring at the SA border?” While imports from China within the targeted categories have certainly decreased considerably (almost 40% down compared to January-June 2006), aggregate imports have not produced similar results, according to the tralac preliminary report. “Significant value gains from the likes of Pakistan (R35-million), Malaysia (R27.02-m) and Mauritius (R25.06-m) have meant that total imports in the targeted lines have only decreased by about 16%.” Research found that both Myanmar and Vietnam had increased their presence in the SA clothing and textile market from what used to be a very low base. “Given that the motivation for the imposed quotas have not at any time been to simply diminish China’s market share but rather to give the local clothing and textile industry some breathing space from other low cost producers,” said Van Eeden, “the first six months of 2007 have produced little economic justification for their continued existence.”