Growing South African exports remains a key target for the Department of Trade and Industry (dti), according to Dr Brendan Vickers, the dti’s chief director, trade policy and research. “From a development and growth perspective it remains extremely important to increase exporting – and while South Africa’s export performance is ahead of the likes of Argentina and Israel, we are nowhere in the region of a China or USA,” he told exporters at a Johannesburg Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI) workshop recently. “There is much room to grow our exports while at the same time also diversifying our export partners. The world economic crisis showed that over-dependence on one economy can be dangerous.”
