Skip to main content

South Africa Seeks 'Balanced Trade' With China



South Africa is looking to foster a more balanced and sustainable trade relationship with China, Deputy Trade and Industry Minister Elizabeth Thabethe said at the opening of the last in a series of three South African expos in Beijing on Thursday.

The expo, taking place at the Beijing Exhibition Centre, is showcasing South Africa's top 10 value-added products and services for export to China, as well as the country's top 10 investment areas, including agro-processing, chemicals, and automotive steel and aluminium.

A total of 63 South African companies have been taking part in the expos, which began in Xiamen earlier this week before moving to Shanghai and now to Beijing.

China is South Africa's largest trading partner from both the import and export perspective, with South Africa's exports to China increasing from R6.4-billion in 2004 to just over R81-billion in 2012, while South Africa's imports from China grew to R120-billion in 2012.

South Africa places emphasis on value-added trade, as opposed to the country being merely the source of raw materials. Chinese investments have been mainly focused on metals, followed by chemicals, food and tobacco, consumer electronics and automotives.

"We are slowly seeing a shift in our export structure, and although the value of exports to China is still negligible, we believe that over time, the patterns of trade will evolve," said Thabethe.

She said South Africa was looking forward to China buying "made in Africa" products coming out of a future trilateral free trade area covering 26 countries in southern, eastern and central Africa.

The free trade area - currently being worked on by the East African Community (EAC), Common Market for Eastern and Central Africa (Comesa) and Southern African Development Community (SADC) - "will effectively expand South Africa's market from 50-million to 600-million, placing us in a similar category in terms of market size as our BRICS partners," Thabethe said.

Jiachang Cao, the deputy director-general in China's ministry of commerce, told a a business seminar held at the expo on Thursday that China saw South Africa as an important and strategic trade partner, and was looking to deepen relations between the two countries.

The Chinese government was also supportive of development in the country and on the continent, Jiachang said, and was encouraging businesses to invest in South Africa.

Chinese companies already doing business in South Africa include Baosteel Resources SA, Sanyu Southern Africa and PMG Mining.

Thabethe, also addressing the seminar, said South Africa was ideally positioned for access to the Southern African Development Community (SADC), with its combined market of over 250-million people.

She added that the South African government was on an infrastructure drive which would see it investing R827-billion in building and upgrading infrastructure over the next three years.

In 2012, Chinese companies completed construction contracts in Africa worth US$40.83-billion, an increase of 45% over 2009.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Why States Still Use Barrel Bombs

Smoke ascends after a Syrian military helicopter allegedly dropped a barrel bomb over the city of Daraya on Jan. 31.(FADI DIRANI/AFP/Getty Images) Summary Barrel bombs are not especially effective weapons. They are often poorly constructed; they fail to detonate more often than other devices constructed for a similar purpose; and their lack of precision means they can have a disproportionate effect on civilian populations. However, combatants continue to use barrel bombs in conflicts, including in recent and ongoing conflicts in Africa and the Middle East, and they are ideally suited to the requirements of resource-poor states. Analysis Barrel bombs are improvised devices that contain explosive filling and shrapnel packed into a container, often in a cylindrical shape such as a barrel. The devices continue to be dropped on towns all over Syria . Indeed, there have been several documented cases of their use in Iraq over the past months, and residents of the city of Mosul, which was re...
Post a Comment
Read more

Russia Looks East for New Oil Markets

Click to Enlarge In the final years of the Soviet Union, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev began orienting his foreign policy toward Asia in response to a rising Japan. Putin has also piloted a much-touted pivot to Asia, coinciding with renewed U.S. interest in the area. A good expression of intent was Russia's hosting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in 2012 in Vladivostok, near Russia's borders with China and North Korea. Although its efforts in Asia have been limited by more direct interests in Russia's periphery and in Europe, Moscow recently has been able to look more to the east. Part of this renewed interest involves finding new export markets for Russian hydrocarbons. Russia's economy relies on energy exports, particularly crude oil and natural gas exported via pipeline to the West. However, Western Europe is diversifying its energy sources as new supplies come online out of a desire to reduce its dependence on Russian energy supplies . This has ...
Post a Comment
Read more

LONDON POLICE INDIRECTLY ENCOURAGE CRIMINALS TO ATTACK RUSSIAN DIPLOMATIC PROPERTY

ILLUSTRATIVE IMAGE A few days ago an unknown perpetrator trespassed on the territory of the Russian Trade Delegation in London, causing damage to the property and the vehicles belonging to the trade delegation , Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said during the September 12 press briefing. The diplomat revealed the response by the London police was discouraging. Police told that the case does not have any prospects and is likely to be closed. This was made despite the fact that the British law enforcement was provided with video surveillance tapes and detailed information shedding light on the incident. By this byehavior, British law inforcements indirectly encourage criminals to continue attacks on Russian diplomatic property in the UK. Zakharova’s statement on “Trespassing on the Russian Trade Mission premises in London” ( source ): During our briefings, we have repeatedly discussed compliance with the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, sp...
1 comment
Read more