IMPORTS AND exports from South Africa to India both topped the R1 billion mark in 1996, and the two countries aim to double that figure for the year 2000.
It's a high target but, says Ashutosh Agrawal, India's commercial consul in South Africa, by no means impossible.
Not the way trade has been expanding between our countries, he says with confidence. There are some areas which have to straighten themselves out, where the trading has been buoyant, but as we go into more settled conditions, so I see everything moving towards a successful target figure.
South Africa continues to offer an attractive market for India's textiles and garments, but the import duty of 84% remains a stumbling block in this sector although there is no quota restriction on garment imports into South Africa.
Bulk drugs in their generic form provide a growing market, especially in the light of the government's thrust in the area of health care services for the underprivileged population, he says.
The major products in demand from India are antibiotics, sulpha drugs and vitamins. Here the South African government has been petitioned by local companies who perceive this form of import as a threat, and as a result the SA Board of Tariffs and Trade has imposed anti-dumping duties.
In the area of imports into India, fertilisers and steel goods remain high on the list from South Africa with growing trade in coal and items involving timber, wood pulp and newsprint.
Here Agrawal points out that indiscriminate tree felling in India has encouraged the government to place a ban on forestry activities, giving South Africa's ready supply of timber and by-products a healthy opening, assisted by the soft rand.
We must remember that it is little more than five years since full trade opened between our two countries, he says. There are, therefore, numerous avenues where goods have shown fluctuation in being imported or exported, but as these settle down, India's trade to and from South Africa is set to become a major international factor.
By Leonard Neill
