Many S. African buyers switch into RI market

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)