Ramaphosa urges export market diversification amid US tariff threats

President Cyril Ramaphosa call for Africa to export finished goods over raw materials.

President Cyril Ramaphosa says the threat of US tariffs on South African goods highlights the need for exporters to diversify their destination markets.

He was speaking at a BMW celebration of its five-decade investment in the country at its Rosslyn car manufacturing plant in Pretoria. The event’s theme was: “Leading Today, Enabling Tomorrow.”

Ramaphosa also touches on the need for exporters of all kinds, not just automotive manufacturers, to eye new frontiers for trade in light of tariff threats.

The President cites the rest of the African continent as a potential growth market for local manufacturers. Penetrating this market would allow the sector to grow, create jobs, and contribute positively to GDP.

Video: Forum on expanding investment in SA

Automotive sector

The focus was on its investments in the country’s automotive sector to date, as well as its plans to continue investing in order to increase production numbers, boost skills in the sector, and promote technology transfer.

This is a celebration of over 50 years of producing BMWs in the country, and the future looks brighter as BMW has introduced an additional production shift to churn out the X3 model, primarily for export markets.

“The plant has grown and prospered over the years and has delivered more than 1.7 million cars since the start of operations in the early 70s. Last year, we opened a new chapter in the history of this plant, with the launch of the new generation of the BMW X3, we added a plug-in hybrid to Rosslyn’s portfolio…the era of electric mobility,” says Dr Mlan Nedeljkovic, Chairman of BMW SA.

Giving the keynote address at the gathering, President Ramaphosa lauded BMW for its recent additional investment of over R4 billion in South Africa, praising the company for the role it’s played in upscaling skills in the country, particularly in the area of new digital and software engineering skills.

BMW has indicated that it has invested heavily in the area of software engineering in the country, yielding significant dividends to the country.

“We’re not just building cars, we’re not only selling cars, we’re not only financing cars but we have also expended on its side and our IT hub in Mendon now employs 2 500 employees and they’re delivering software 130 countries, they’re the driving force of R4 billion to the South African economy,” says Ilka Horstmeier, Labour Relations Executive: BMW SA.

Speaking to the growth potential of the local automotive sector, the President indicated that the government was finalising incentives for the sector to invest in cleaner fuel vehicles, like electric cars.

“The global shift to clean vehicles presents opportunity for the local component manufacturing sector whose focus has been on ice components with our significant reserves of the critical minerals that we have in our country, we must become a hub for processing and beneficiation of the minerals that are extracted from South Africa so that they’re beneficiated and where we’re able to export finished products,” says Ramaphosa.