THERE ARE good markets in Saudi Arabia for South African food and beverage products, and recent moves into that market by South African fashion retailers, architects, construction companies and others should spur activity from South African companies into both Saudi Arabia and the greater Gulf region. That’s the view of Duncan Bonnett of Whitehouse & Associates who points to a relatively steady growth in trade with the country over the last four years. “The balance of trade is skewed heavily in Saudi Arabia’s favour however, with South Africa’s share of total bilateral trade consistently less than 10% of the total. This is largely explained by South Africa’s imports of energy products from Saudi Arabia, with oil accounting for nearly 94% of Saudi Arabia’s exports to South Africa. “But if oil is removed from the data, the picture is very different. South Africa’s exports of goods to Saudi Arabia totalled R1.3bn in 2002, compared to non-oil imports from the Kingdom of R0.9bn. However, even in non-oil products the gap is narrowing rapidly. “Saudi Arabia, like most of the countries in the Gulf, is trying to diversify its economy away from dependence on oil, and there are thus many new opportunities developing in the region as a whole,” he added.
