SA imports a whopping 50% more from China

From trade surplus to deficit in three years JOY ORLEK CHINA’S EXPORTS to South Africa jumped by a whopping 50.78% to US$5.77-billion (over R42-bn) for the year ending 2006, according to figures released by the Chinese Customs. Its overall exports to the world rose 27.15%. This lifts South Africa one place on China's export table to 27th position according to Trade Law Association senior researcher Ron Sandrey. He cautions, however, that earlier tralac analysis shows that this data is not directly reconcilable with South African trade data for a number of reasons, among them the costs of shipping goods to China. In the case of iron ore, for example, these costs are substantial. Electrical machinery and general machinery, which increased 57% and 46% respectively, are China’s top exports, but more noticeable is the dramatic increase in clothing exports reported. The third main line, knitted apparel, increased by 138% from US$280-million (R2.04-bn) in 2005 to US$667-m (R4.87-bn) last year, while the companion exports of woven apparel increased by a more stately 47% from US$389-m (R2.84-bn) during 2005 to US$571-m (R4.17-bn) last year, said Sandrey. “Thus, clothing exports to South Africa crashed the one billion dollar mark and only stopped to pause at US$1.24-bn (R9.05-bn) in December 2006. “Given the recently imposed quotas on these imports into South Africa it will be interesting to see if this is indeed a pause before retreating or just another milestone,” he said. Chinese imports from South Africa increased by a lesser 18.92%. “This is impressive by most yardsticks, but still lower than China’s global increase in imports of 19.93%,” he added. Ores remain the top import at US$1.27-bn (R9.27-bn), and up by 31.1%, followed by precious stones and metals at US$1.19-bn (R8.7-bn), and up by 23.8%. Iron and steel products declined by 30% to US$298-m (R2.18-bn). “These imports remain very concentrated, with the top five HS chapters continuing to contribute over 83% of the total.” Based on this Chinese trade data, Sandrey points out that South Africa has moved from registering a trade surplus of US$3.46-bn (R25.26-bn) through a more balanced US$0.38-bn (R2.8-bn) to registering a deficit of US$1.7-bn (R12.41-bn) in the space of three years.