Large Indian participation in S. Africa trade fair
Friday, 04 October 2002, 19:30 IST
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JOHANNESBURG: Several Indian firms displayed a variety of goods, including electronics, software, plastics and spices, and attracted good business at South Africa's annual trade fair that was held here. Around 30 Indian firms took part in the South African International Trade Exhibition 2002 (SAITEX). This time saw the largest Indian participation in five years. "We did a market survey here earlier and determined that there is a lot of scope here," Safdar H. Khan, general manager of the India Trade Promotion Organisation, told IANS at the four-day expo that ended Friday. "Last year, Indian exhibitors also had good results, so this prompted more people to come this year." Indian firms exhibited wares ranging from steel, tea, home crafts, electronics and software to industrial equipment and agricultural implements. Khan said there was a special focus on SAITEX this year because of India's programme called "Focus Africa", initiated by the ministry of commerce and industry to enhance the country's trade with the sub-Saharan African region. The Indian government had subsidized participation at this year's event to allow a greater diversity of exhibitors to participate. Trade between Indian and Sub-Saharan Africa grew from $893 million in 1991-2 to $3,390 million in 2000-1, an increase of more than 280 percent in nine years. "Indian products, machinery and technologies make easy inroads into South Africa's import market, worth $30.3 million," Khan said. "Though India's exports to South Africa have shown an up trend, the balance of trade is still in favour of South Africa. This leaves big scope for Indian trade and industry for exporting products, services and technologies to South Africa." Vimalchand J. Rathod, vice chairman of the Plastics Export Promotion Council, said 20 of the council's 2,000 members in India had come for the trade fair. "Most of them have already established contact with South African dealers, who are mainly interested in household plastic items," said Rathod. Mohammed Ameen, managing director of National Masala Mills from Kashmir, said there had been great interest in the range of spices that he had on display. Also, products of the members of the spices board of the ministry of commerce and industry drew great local interest for the way they were packaged. "The local people of Indian origin have been particularly interested in spices that they have not seen here before, such as pre-packaged pav bhaji masala and sambar masala," said K. Sidraju, deputy director marketing of the spices board. While most exhibitors were happy with their success at SAITEX 2002, the Tea Board of India was not. "We have been at the exhibition several times now, but there has not been much growth," S. Mukherjee of the board said. "I am trying to convince (South Africans) to buy Indian tea and mix it with local tea, because Indian tea has good flavour and a natural taste. Our teas are organic, containing no fertilisers, unlike tea grown in Sri Lanka and Kenya." Mukherjee said South African Indians always looked for Indian tea when they visited India, but could not obtain it here because there was no market infrastructure. He said import duties were hampering the growth of the Indian tea industry in South Africa. Also disappointed with the South African expo was a Pakistani delegation of 10 exhibitors, who claimed that there was little interest from South African buyers, who seemed to prefer to deal with Indian or Pakistani companies having offices in South Africa rather than engaging in imports directly from Pakistan. "I had heard South Africa was a very rich market, so I had lots of expectations. But maybe there will be something in following up the contacts made here," said Imran Waheed, managing director of Protective International of Karachi.
Source: IANS
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