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Taku Fundira, a tralac researcher, comments on the full year analysis of trade flows between SA and China.
"Tralac has just completed a full year analysis of the impact of the arbitrary quotas imposed in 2007 by South Africa on selected key lines of textile and clothing lines from China. In the past year tralac monitored and reported on a quarterly basis the trade flows between China and South Africa - the results of which were published as tralac Trade Briefs (see Fundira, 2007; and van Eeden and Sandrey, 2007).
We now offer a full year analysis here. It reveals the following;
- South African global imports in the textile/clothing quota lines declined by 22 percent, from rand 9,131 million to rand 7,102 million during 2007;
- Chinese imports in these textile/clothing quota lines declined by 48 percent, from rand 7,155 million to rand 3,714 million during 2007 (i. e., the Chinese imports were 52% of the relevant 2006 value);
- The Chinese market share in quota lines consequently declined from 78.4 percent to 52.3 percent;
- Chinese imports of all goods into South Africa increased by 29 percent to Rand 60.3 billion during 2007;
- This meant that quota lines declined from 15.3 percent of Chinese imports into South Africa in 2006 to a much lower 6.2 percent in 2007;
- The main import sources behind China were Hong Kong (R377m), India (R374m), Indonesia (R213m), Pakistan (R207m) and Mauritius (R206m);
- Thus, other sources were compensating some rand 1,412 million for the fall in Chinese imports;
- The largest increases in imports by value in quota lines were from Hong Kong, Indonesia and Malaysia;
- In percentage terms the increase from Malaysia was massive, while the increases from Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Vietnam and Madagascar were all substantial.
On the background that the quotas have indeed significantly reduced imports from China (in value terms), we pose the questions:
- Does this evidence suggest that the quota imposition on China was a sensible measure to quell the rise in Chinese imports and thus offer some protection to the local industry?
- Could/ should authorities have anticipated an increase in imports in the quota lines from alternative sources?"
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Tell us what you think...
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See last week's comment on
the effect of EPAs on regional integration
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East Africa: SA's Liberty Group to Enter Regional Market
South African life insurer Liberty Group will this year join the East African market, completing the entry of South Africa's top four insurers into the region.
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Indian industry sees trouble with China FTA
The Indian government was urged to adopt a cautious stand on free trade agreements (FTAs), particularly in the case of countries like China, and to discourage the export of raw materials.
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East Africa: Regional capital market by 2009
According to Fratern Mboya, outgoing chairman of the East Africa Securities Regulatory Authorities, Rwanda has been admitted to the East African Capital Markets Authority. He said they were harmonising towards a regional capital market by 2009.
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Turkey hopes for FTA with India
Turkish Minister of State in charge of Foreign Trade Mr Kursad Tuzmen has pushed trade and economic ties to the forefront of India-Turkish relations by bringing with him a 170-member delegation of businesspersons on his visit to Delhi.
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Caricom eyes trade deal with Canada
Next on the Caribbean Community's (Caricom) agenda is a trade agreement with Canada, this following the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) which will be signed between Caricom Governments and the European Union (EU) on June 30 this year.
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Zimbabwe set to seal tourism deals with Russia
Zimbabwe is set to clinch a number of tourist marketing development deals with top tourist wholesalers in Russia as it begins to penetrate the Russian market.
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SA sign agreement with Ethiopia to maximise trade
An Investment Protection and Promotion Agreement was signed between South Africa and Ethiopia on Tuesday which will see the maximisation of trade and capacity between the two countries.
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WTO talks see flurry of activity
The World Trade Organisation's (WTO) Doha Round of trade talks has seen a flurry of activity in a final attempt to conclude a deal, contrary to the belief that the talks are dead.
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Tanzania: Development of a national export strategy
A national export strategy is anticipated to lead to a strengthened public-private sector partnership which will aid the creation of an enabling business environment in the country.
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Uganda: CSOs dissatisfied with EPAs
A demonstration is being planned by civil society organisations (CSOs) in order to express dissatisfaction at the East African Community and European Community Economic Partnership Agreement (EAC-EC EPA) which was signed between the five EAC countries and the European Union (EU) in November 2007.
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SA-Indonesia trade barriers to be addressed
South Africa and Indonesia currently face numerous obstacles which are hampering trade, said President Thabo Mbeki on Monday after hosting Indonesian President Susilo Bombong Yudhoyono at the Union Buildings in Pretoria for bilateral talks.
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tralac - the Trade Law Centre for Southern Africa - aims at
increasing trade law capacity in Southern Africa.
Read more about us
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| Event: |
tralac Annual Conference 2008 |
| Date: |
12 to 13 June 2008 |
| Details: |
Details will be posted later. |
| Contact: |
For more information, please contact us at events@tralac.org |
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New AGOA data to January now available
New export data for January has been updated on AGOA.info, with aggregate AGOA exports up 35% compared to last year. Much of this increase is the result of significantly higher oil exports from Nigeria, and to a lesser extent from Angola. But even South Africa has recorded a substantial increase, with January figures showing a 22% overall increase and 68% increase for exports qualifying under AGOA. For South Africa, the largest year-on-year gain under AGOA has been achieved by automotive sector exports, with duty-free exports under the Act up 84% (from $58mn in January 2007 to $106mn in January 2008). Virtually all of the country's automotive exports to the US qualified for duty-free status.
Other data sections include disaggregated bilateral trade profiles for each AGOA
country (and regional configuration),
aggregate bilateral trade, preferential trade under AGOA / GSP and sectoral data from AGOA-eligible countries by value and as a proportion of US imports as well as sectoral "new AGOA" and "GSP AGOA"
data. Textile data, which is categorised by rules-of-origin category (for example, it distinguishes garments made from local or third country fabric), is available both by value and by volume. Quota utilisation
levels
for the 2006/7 quota year, (running from October 2006 to September 2007), preference utilisation was 21.05%, while the fill rate under the LDC sub-quota was 36.63%. For details of the new 2007/2008 clothing quota, click here. Quota utilisation data for the first four months of the 2007/2008 quota period (to February 2008) was 6.45%.
Follow these links to diagrams showing
clothing exports under AGOA, and Quota
utilisation during the current quota period.
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Namibia: Setback to EPZ policy as large investor leaves
The reported closure of one of Namibia's largest exporters under AGOA is seen as a setback to the country's export ambitions, with the expected loss of some 3,000 jobs. However, the Namibian government has announced that it plans to "stay the course" with its policy on Export Processing Zones (EPZ). Read
more.
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Trade acronyms and terminology
View AGOA.info's comprehensive database of
trade acronyms and
terminology.
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Latest AGOA news
"Upcoming Trade Event: AGOA Transportation and Trade Forum"
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news archive
(containing almost 1,000 articles) through the built-in search functionality.
Read these and other AGOA-related news articles in AGOA.info's news area, which is continuously updated with articles sourced from a wide range of African and foreign publications.
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