China Inc beats SA Inc in Africa project cargo stakes

South African exporters are really
only treading water when it comes to
trade in Africa, says Duncan Bonnett
of Whitehouse & Associates.
“At a fundamental level we need to
reassess South Africa Inc if we want
to compete with the likes of China and
Brazil in Africa,” he told FTW. “When
one looks at China and their involvement
in Africa it becomes clear we have serious
competition on our hands because they
are going at it as China Inc and therein
lies their success.”
He said while South Africa had a
variety of organisations to promote trade,
none were truly working together to
facilitate processes and encourage exports
on the African continent.
“And South Africans fundamentally
don’t understand Africa in terms of its
needs, business practices or expectations.
China, on the other hand, does.”
In 2000 South African exports were
slightly larger than China’s to the rest of
Africa – some US$3.9billion compared to
US$3.6 billion.
“By 2005 China’s exports were roughly
double ours – and by 2009, 3.5 times
ours,” he said. “South Africa is not alone
in seeing market share decline. The EU
countries have been badly hit – France
and the UK in particular as well as other
Asian countries.”
Bonnett said while this had resulted in
a renewed focus of energies by countries
such as Brazil, Mexico, Australia, Canada
and the US, South Africa on the other
hand was plodding along and “treading
water”.
“In Angola there are 27 projects taking
place at present that require large amounts
of steel. That steel is being imported
from all over the world instead of from
South Africa. We are missing out on
opportunities on our doorstep,” said
Bonnett. “Another case in point is the 40
projects being tracked in southern Africa
by the cement industry currently. Only
one of these projects has South African
involvement.”
He said South Africa was still far too
insular, only exporting as far as Malawi
and never venturing much further.
“We need to look at out business
culture sooner rather than later if we
want to benefit from the projects and
developments taking place on the
continent.”