Mengintip Peluang Ekspor Indonesia ke Afrika Selatan[Taking a Peek at Indonesia's Export Opportunities to South Africa]

This paper tries to analyze Indonesia's export opportunities to South Africa by utilizing time series data and existing information during 2002-2021. By using an exploratory descriptive approach, including the revealed comparative advantage (RCA) index to determine competitiveness and export development potential, the results show that highly competitive commodities were generally based on natural resources. Primary industrial commodities that have the potential to be exported to South Africa are palm oil and its derivatives; palm kernel & and babassu oil; coconut oil and its derivatives; as well as natural rubber. Meanwhile, manufacturing industry products include motorized vehicles for transporting people; motor vehicle spare parts and accessories; machine products, especially other office machines; electronic products (such as telephone sets and other sound/image transmission equipment); footwear products; and chemical products. By paying attention to the level of penetration, competitiveness, and potential, it can be said that the opportunity for Indonesian exports to South Africa is still quite large. It's just that this opportunity is accompanied by barriers to import duties which are still high for Indonesian products. Therefore, bilateral and multilateral economic diplomacy steps are needed to reduce these various obstacles through trade agreements (Preferential Trade Agreements/PTA and Free Trade Area/FTA). Indonesia's success in entering the South African market with PTA and FTA trade agreements will open up opportunities for Indonesia to enter the markets of SACU (Southern African Customs Union) member countries, namely Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia and Swaziland, which implement an effective tariff policy. Because in SACU the determination of SACU's external tariffs is based on the results of member countries' negotiations.