Many S. African buyers switch into RI market

JAKARTA (JP): Local firms can capitalize from the many South African importers switching their focus here in the wake of the rupiah's dramatic depreciation, the country's envoy said on Thursday.

The South African ambassador B.S. Kubheka said the plummeting value of the rupiah against the greenback rendered Indonesian products much cheaper for his country's importers.

He said his country's Indonesian imports, which rose 20 percent in 1997, were expected to increase by about 50 percent to US$195.02 million this year, partly due to the fall of the rupiah.

South African imports are projected to increase by between 45 percent and 50 percent next year to $292.5 million, Kubheka said, despite the slight improvement recorded in the rupiah recently.

The rupiah, which was about 2,500 to the dollar before the crisis hit the country in July last year, plunged to a low of 17,000 against the greenback in January. The currency has gradually recovered to a range between 7,000 and 8,000 in the past several months.

"I believe that the fall in the value of the rupiah provides Indonesian businessmen with an opportunity to export more to South Africa so that the gap will be closed, or even be turned to Indonesia's advantage," he said in a seminar on export and import market opportunities in South Africa sponsored by courier services company DHL.

South Africa's trade with Indonesia has soared since direct trade began with the former in 1994 with the end of apartheid.

Total trade volume between South Africa and Indonesia increased by almost 70 percent for the first nine months of 1997 compared to 1996, Kubheka said.

South Africa mostly exports steel products, paper, pulp and chemical products to Indonesia, and primarily imports textile products and farm products such as coffee and rubber. (29)