The Minister of Trade and Industry, Dr Rob Davies briefed the media about the Bilateral Trade and Investment relations between South Africa (SA) and the European Union (EU). The briefing preceded the upcoming Business Forum which takes place tomorrow at the Department of International Relations and Cooperation in Pretoria and the summit taking place on Thursday, 18 July 2013.
According to Davies, the EU is South Africa’s most important trading partner in terms of the value of bilateral trade and in terms of the composition of South Africa’s export basket to the EU, which comprises largely of value added products.
“In 2012, three EU member states (Germany, the Netherlands and UK) featured amongst the top 10 export markets for South Africa. South Africa’s total exports to the EU have been growing, although at a slow pace, between 2009/10 and 2012. Our exports to EU increased from R122 billion in 2009, to R136 billion in 2010, to R141 billion in 2011 and R144 billion in 2012.
Our main exports in 2012 to the EU were commodities and base metals, fresh produce and prepared foodstuffs, vehicles and automotive components, machinery and mechanical appliances, as well as electrical equipment and parts thereof”, said the Minister.
Minister Davies highlighted that South Africa’s exports to the EU remained well below the 2008 levels when the country exported R186 billion, compared with R144 billion last year.
Davies mentioned that imports from the EU to South Africa have been growing over the past years at a faster pace than South Africa’s exports to the EU.
“They grew from R171 billion in 2009 to R185 billion in 2010, to R214 billion in 2011 and R241 billion in 2012. The trade balance has been in favour of the EU”, he said.
The Minister further said that South Africa will raise the issue of the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) between the European Union and South Africa and SADC. He said that South Africa will object the deadline of October 1 2014 that has been imposed by the EU for the conclusion of negotiations of the EPAs with Southern African countries.
“We are concerned about the deadline and its impact on our neighbours and will continue to negotiate about these issues in our engagements and dialogues with the EU,” he added.
According to Minister Davies, between January 2008 and April 2013 a total of 46 Foreign Direct Investment projects from South Africa into the EU were recorded.
"These projects represent a total capital investment of ZAR10.53 billion which is an average investment of R228.97 million per project. During the same period, the investments by 37 South African companies created a total of 2,371 jobs in the EU. The projects are spread over a range of sectors including: Sales and Marketing support, Business services, Manufacturing, Information and Communication Technology etc’, he concluded.
Enquiries:
Sidwell Medupe, Departmental Spokesperson
Cell: 079 492 1774
Tel: 012 394 1650
E-mail: MSMedupe@thedti.gov.za
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