Ramaphosa calls for balanced trade between SA and China
On Thursday the president and his delegation of ministers wrapped up a three-day state visit to China.
President Cyril Ramaphosa and his delegation of ministers wrapped up a three-day state visit to China on 5 September 2024. Picture: @GovernmentZA/X
JOHANNESBURG - President Cyril Ramaphosa said that trade between South Africa and China has historically been "imbalanced" in favour of the Asian country.
He said that efforts were being made to lessen South Africa's trade deficit with the Asian superpower.
On Thursday, the president and his delegation of ministers wrapped up a three-day state visit to China.
Ramaphosa said that talks between the two countries focused on providing a stable, fair and enabling business environment for companies from both nations.
"So for us, this is an important market and we have seen increased trade between our two countries. At the moment the trade is imbalanced, it's more in favour of China rather than in our favour and it is this we're focusing our attention on, to correct that imbalance and that's why we welcome the opening up of the Chinese market for more and more finished goods from South Africa. Importation from SA to China is much more like raw materials, our minerals, unprocessed agricultural products, so we want to upgrade that economic activity to a higher level so that we are able to bring in more finished mineral goods or products or commodities into China."