Providing policy support to exports

Export-oriented industrialisation was characteristic of the development of the national economies of Japan and the Asian Tigers in the post-WW2 period. Through export-led growth, governments seek to find a niche in the world economy for a certain type of export. Industries producing this export may receive governmental subsidies and better access to the local markets.

Much of Japan’s growth was based on competitive exports of products in which the country had a specific benefit or relative competitive edge. Two of South Africa’s export success stories are the motor vehicle industry, which is incentivised by government, and citrus fruit exports. South Africa is currently the world’s second-largest citrus fruit exporter.

Export performance, according to former World Bank chief economist, Anne Krueger, is a function of effective government policies. Success with the export-promotion model requires supportive government intervention. However, South Africa will need to be selective in choosing in which sectors it is most likely to have export success. To successfully build an export market, South Africa must start with the industries in which it already has a strong foothold and see how those could be moved up the value chain.

In some areas, such as the automotive sector, as well in the export of table grapes and citrus fruit, the country already has private-sector vibrancy. Government interventions could also be used to further develop sectors such as the labour-intensive renewable-energy industry and fertiliser production. The country already has the skills and some of the infrastructure required in these sectors.

South Africa’s current policies and government programmes, including the NDP, the New Growth Path (NGP) and the Industrial Policy Action Plan, call for “developmental trade policies” to encourage and upgrade value-added, labour-absorbing industrial production. The NGP states that South Africa’s trade policy should seek to promote exports, while addressing unfair competition towards domestic producers and assisting new activities to achieve competitiveness. It calls for trade policies to become more focused, identifying opportunities for exports in external markets, using trade agreements and facilitation to achieve these (NPC, 2011).

The NDP envisages 6%-a-year export growth by 2030, with non-traditional exports increasing by 10% a year (NPC, 2011).

South Africa’s access to global markets is enhanced by its trade agreements, such as the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Free Trade Area, the EU-SADC economic partnership agreement, preferential access to the US market under the African Growth and Opportunity Act, and the new African Continental Free Trade Area.