28 July 2014
A South African business delegation arrived in Bangkok on Sunday on the first leg of a trade and investment mission to Thailand and Taiwan.
The mission, organised and sponsored by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), will give the South African delegates – representing companies in the agro-processing, jewellery and automotive sectors – the opportunity to introduce their products and services directly to buyers in high-growth Asian markets.
The delegation will participate in various business-to-business meetings, site visits and trade and investment seminars in both countries.
Golden Touch Manufacturing Jewellers, based in Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape, is one of 18 companies taking part in the mission. Company director Mbulelo Singapi told the DTI that his company was looking forward exchanging business ideas with local businesspeople.
Singapi said that, despite being a small manufacturer, Golden Touch had the capacity to scale up production, and would be able to meet any order they might secure in Thailand or Taiwan.
Another participant, Pitto Limited, grows export-quality grapes along the Orange River outside Kakamas in the Northern Cape. Commercial manager Lorna Basson said this was the sixth DTI-sponsored mission that the company was taking part in.
“Out of the five trips in which we participated, we managed to establish solid trading relations in countries like China, Germany, Poland, and Ghana,” Basson said, adding that Pitto was currently exporting to China, Poland and Ghana.
She said the DTI’s missions had given her company “direct access to foreign markets, and cut on a lot of costs since there are no third party agents involved. It is also a great opportunity for us to trade in person and sustain our foreign export relations”.
According to the DTI, South African exports to Thailand totalled R4.6-billion in 2013, while imports – nearly half of which were vehicle components – totalled R26.5-billion.
Total trade between Taiwan and South Africa was worth R21.7-billion in 2013, with a trade balance of R3.7-million in favour of South Africa.
SAinfo reporter
