Low-value goods opting for air to US

Speed to market is one of the biggest challenges for exports to the United States – so much so it often results in low-value goods moving by air. While this is beneficial for the airfreight industry where demand is constrained, it means South African products are less competitive

in the US, says Simplisius Dube, trade specialist at the Southern Africa Trade and Investment Hub. Speaking in Cape Town recently, Dube said time to market was one of the critical issues confronting exporters in southern Africa. “Some exporters end

up airfreighting low-value goods to the US, which is very costly and results in the exporter not being competitive,” he said. “By virtue of our geography we are far from the US market and in this world of immediate demand we have to improve our time to market.”

He said this also meant addressing other issues that affected manufacturing such as productivity levels, factory inefficiencies and labour challenges. While freight capacity continues to grow, demand has been weak. April saw a sharp decline in air cargo growth. This has been

attributed to cost inputs  that are rising, trade tensions affecting confidence, and global trade weakening. “Taking all of this into consideration we have to improve our transit time and our cost to get to the US market,” said Dube.