The impact of Chinese import penetration on the South African manufacturing sector

dc.creatorEdwards, Lawrence
dc.creatorJenkins, Rhys
dc.date2013-08-22T14:31:16Z
dc.date2013-08-22T14:31:16Z
dc.date2013-07
dc.date.accessioned2015-05-28T10:06:22Z
dc.date.available2015-05-28T10:06:22Z
dc.date.issued2015-05-28
dc.descriptionThe rapid growth in imports from China over the past decade is seen as a key factor contributing towards the relatively slow growth in output and the decline in employment in South African manufacturing during this period. Yet the effects of Chinese trade may be complex and differentiated across sectors. To account for these differential effects, this analysis draws on a database of 44 manufacturing industries covering the period 1992-2010. Two approaches – a Chenery-type decomposition and econometric estimation – are used to evaluate the impact of Chinese trade on prices, production and employment in South African manufacturing. Chinese penetration of the South African market is shown to have increased rapidly over the past decade, in part due to displacement of imports from other countries, but more importantly at the expense of local production. Exports of manufactures to China did not add significantly to industrial growth in South Africa, whereas labour-intensive industries were particularly badly affected by Chinese imports implying that the negative impact on employment was more than proportional to the output displacement. However, we also find evidence that Chinese imports contributed towards lower producer price inflation in South Africa, which in turn will have moderated increases in consumer prices and helped to curtail production cost increases.
dc.descriptionThis paper is based on research carried out for a project on “Chinese Competition and the Restructuring of South African Manufacturing” funded by the UK Economic and Social Research Council, Grant No. ES/1035125/1. The project was administered by the Southern African Labour and Development Research Unit at the University of Cape Town in South Africa and the School of International Development at the University of East Anglia in the United Kingdom. This paper benefi ted from extensive comments by participants of a workshop organized by the Trade and Industrial Policy Strategies in Pretoria.
dc.identifier978-1-920517-43-4
dc.identifierhttp://hdl.handle.net/11090/618
dc.identifier.ris TY - Working Paper DA - 2015-05-28 DB - OpenUCT DP - University of Cape Town KW - China KW - Manufacturing KW - Imports KW - Trade KW - Prices KW - Inflation LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PB - University of Cape Town PY - 2015 T1 - The impact of Chinese import penetration on the South African manufacturing sector TI - The impact of Chinese import penetration on the South African manufacturing sector UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11090/618 ER - en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11090/618
dc.languageen
dc.publisher.departmentSALDRUen_ZA
dc.publisher.facultyFaculty of Commerceen_ZA
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Cape Town
dc.relationWorking Paper;102
dc.subjectChina
dc.subjectManufacturing
dc.subjectImports
dc.subjectTrade
dc.subjectPrices
dc.subjectInflation
dc.titleThe impact of Chinese import penetration on the South African manufacturing sector
dc.typeWorking Paper
uct.type.publicationResearchen_ZA
uct.type.resourceWorking Paperen_ZA
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