Tariff turmoil

The US position on trade tariffs under the current administration has disrupted global trade patterns, which are currently being reset.

Consulting economist Marthinus Havenga has recently completed a report on South African International Trade Trends for WOW, which has just been published on WOWEB and provides critical context for this shift. I recommend that the report be liberally distributed within your organisation.

The table below shows how South African exports to emerging markets surpassed exports to developed markets in 2009, equalled them again in 2021, and then the divergence continued in favour of emerging markets.

It is also noteworthy from the following table that China moved from our 12th-largest partner in 2004 to usurp the US in first place last year, and that India went from 19th to 7th. Mozambique went from 15th to 4^th, largely due to Maputo being used by South African exporters as their export port of choice.

Gauteng companies relocating

An analysis of the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC) dataset shows some interesting results. This dataset covers a total of 9.1 million companies, including those that are deregistered, in the process of deregistration, in liquidation, in business rescue, or under judicial management.

In Gauteng, there are currently 1.3 million companies that are in business, with 2.1 million in final deregistration for failing to submit annual returns and a further 92,000 in the final deregistration process.

Also of interest is the number of companies that have relocated from Gauteng to other provinces from February 2024 to November this year:  

In closing, please note Who Owns Whom will close for the holiday season on 24 December and will reopen on 5 January.  If you require urgent assistance during this time, please contact Sandy Kerkhove on sandyk@whoownswhom.co.za or me on andrewm@wow.joburg.