Identifying accessible export opportunities for South Africa in South America

Abstract

Despite the surging demand for imports in South America in recent years, South Africa’s exports to the region have shown relatively low growth. A contributing factor is the prevalence of trade barriers between South Africa and various South American countries. The aim of this study is, firstly, to measure the trade barriers to South Africa’s exports to South America and, secondly, to identify high-potential export opportunities in the form of product-country combinations that can best surmount such barriers. The investigation, which uses a reconstructed Decision Support Model (DSM), reveals that Brazil, Argentina and Chile offer the greatest potential as export markets (in US$ terms) for South Africa, while the most promising product categories are transport-related goods, minerals, vegetables and chemicals. The results of this study should be a useful guide to South Africans planning export initiatives in South America.

Gross domestic product and logistics performance index drive the world trade: A study based on all continents

“…The tariffs and non-tariff measures in Brazil, Colombia, Uruguay, and Venezuela, time to import (almost double that of competitors on average), cost to import (on average 26% higher than other destinations), and poor English proficiency in business circles in most South American countries are the most common barriers that South African exporters face in South America [ 40 ]. The study carried out by Bazani, Pereira [ 41 ] revealed that in comparison to other countries, Brazil has a middling logistics performance.…”

Identifying the comparative advantage of products and industries of South Africa’s Mpumalanga province

“…This study uses the 2010 TRADE-DSM results in order to correspond with the 2010 SARS export data used to calculate the RCA scores for Mpumalanga. The TRADE-DSM involves a sequential filtering process with four filters that identify products and markets with the most REOs for export success (Jacobs, Viviers & Steenkamp 2014). The TRADE-DSM can therefore be used to justify the allocation of public resources to promote products with the highest export potential ).…”