TIPS - Trade and Industry

Leveraging South Africa's G20 engagement to advance pharmaceutical manufacturing: A strategic policy opportunity

2025-11-24T16:17:51+02:00

Upheaval in the global external environment, including the recent COVID-19 pandemic, infectious disease outbreaks such as the Marburg virus, and the most recent development aid funding cuts, has created a sense of urgency among African nations to relook at health systems resilience and self-sufficiency in the supply of healthcare products. This Working Paper focuses on how South Africa’s strategic engagement in the Group of 20 (G20) could enhance its ability to mobilise international partnerships, influence global pharmaceutical policy, and attract investment for pharmaceutical manufacturing to facilitate export-led sector growth.

Working paper: A developmental regionalism approach to the AfCFTA

2018-11-26T10:43:47+02:00

This paper argues that adopting a “developmental regionalism” approach to trade integration provides the best prospects for the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) to catalyse the process of transformative industrial development, cross-border investment and democracy, governance, peace and security in Africa. It also looks at the progress being made by African countries and the continent in implementing each of the four pillars of this approach.

This paper was written in celebration of the significant contribution to African integration made by Chief Olu Akinkugbe.

Dr Faizel Ismail also presented the Keynote Address at the Olu Akinkugbe Business Law In Africa Fellowship Conference held at the Lagos Business School on 28 November 2018.

A 'developmental regionalism' approach to the AfCFTA: In celebration of the 90th birthday of Chief Olu Akinkugbe CFR CON

The Johannesburg health cluster

2018-11-12T10:36:42+02:00

This research report is focused on the healthcare sector in the City of Johannesburg (CoJ), in particular the medical devices sector and delves deeper to understand the problems faced by the sector and what would be required to leverage the sector for domestic growth and import substitution.

The City of Johannesburg has all the building blocks to grow, expand and develop current medical devices activity within its robust broader healthcare cluster. The cluster offers opportunities for increased city-based GDP and value-added growth, increased employment opportunities, substantial export opportunities and the opportunity to support the national government’s drive towards import substitution in a rapidly growing market segment. It appears that the national government is committed to growing the medical device sector and that any initiatives undertaken by the city would thus be in line with and support national industrial policy thinking. This is important as many of the constraints facing the sector can only be mitigated at a national level.

Case study on the agricultural inputs regional value chain in Southern Africa: South Africa, Mozambique, Tanzania and Zambia

2018-03-26T15:22:00+02:00

This research report aims to identify opportunities to develop the regional value chain in agricultural inputs, and the opportunities within that value chain for regional trade. It also aims to detail policy initiatives to be undertaken by the South African Department of Trade and Industry to capitalise on those opportunities in order to promote regional integration and growth and development supported by expanding regional value chains.The study covers the following countries: South Africa, Mozambique, Tanzania and Zambia. The research aims to answer the following questions:

What is the current profile of the agricultural inputs sector in each country?
What are the key factors driving demand for different categories of agricultural inputs across the four countries?
What are the main factors that constrain demand for agricultural inputs in each country, and in aggregate across the region?
What is the current structure of the regional value chain in these inputs? How is it organised?
How well is the chain functioning?
What and where are the opportunities to improve the functioning of the regional value chain?
What does this analysis imply for the dti’s regional development policy?

Regional integration in Southern Africa: A platform for electricity sustainability

2018-01-23T15:17:43+02:00

The energy landscape in Southern Africa has been rapidly evolving over the last decades. An economy-wide transition to sustainability is underway, with energy at its core. In addition, a progressive movement of regional integration with numerous energy-related initiatives is taking place, principally through the Southern African Power Pool (SAPP). At the same time, electricity supply industries in the region are restructuring, with the emergence of independent power producers and increased individualism. These dynamics call for a renewed approach to regional electricity integration in support of sustainable energy development and a critical analysis of regional electricity dynamics with the aim of improving regional sustainability.

Against this background, this paper reviews the performance of the SAPP region through an electricity sustainability prism of analysis. Three key dimensions are considered to assess electricity sustainability in the region: electricity security; electricity equity; and environmental sustainability. The paper then analyses the existing role of regional integration in terms of electricity sustainability in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region and explores the potential to improve Southern Africa’s electricity sustainability through regional integration channels.

Case study on the forestry regional value chain in Southern Africa: South Africa, Mozambique and Tanzania

2018-01-23T15:11:06+02:00

This study provides an overview and analysis of the structure, key functions and characteristics of the forestry value chain operating in and among South Africa, Mozambique and Tanzania in order to identify market opportunities and the interventions required to support the growth of the regional value chain. The research focuses on three value chains – forestry to timber; forestry to pulp and paper; and forestry to furniture.

It focuses on three countries – South Africa, Mozambique and Tanzania. The latter two were selected on the basis of their current level of forestry output, together with their contiguous location. An evidence-based approach has been adopted for this study, based on the compilation of industry data from existing and new sources. The value chain analysis is focused on answering the following questions: how is the value chain organised? How does it function? Who are the main actors? What are the key institutions and forms of coordination? How well is the chain performing in coordination, competitiveness and intra-regional trade? Where are the opportunities to (1) relocate parts of the chain among the countries, and (2) to enhance existing intra-regional activities?

Regional technical regulations and institutions: the role of standards institutions in unlocking value chains

2018-01-23T14:42:37+02:00

Technical regulations refer to standards and compulsory specifications that apply to certain products and processes, and which can play an important role in regional trade. Firms that wish to trade in value chains need to be able to comply with the regulations set by lead firms and state regulators, or risk being excluded from those value chains, and replaced with compliant competitors. It is therefore essential that Southern Africa’s technical infrastructure aids firms in meeting technical regulations in order to develop working regional value chains. Failure to do so could see otherwise capable regional firms excluded from value chains and replaced with compliant firms from outside the region.

This report makes nine key recommendations, all of which aim to strengthen the capacity of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Technical Infrastructure to achieve its core mandates, while promoting regional value chain development.

Cross-cutting logistics issues undermining regional integration across SADC

2018-01-15T14:24:42+02:00

The paper begins with a broad contextual overview of the Southern African Development Community’s (SADC’s) transport and logistics performance in terms of the Logistics Performance Index and tracks the performance of individual member states in the decade from 2007. Two interesting findings emerge. First that the better performing SADC member states have been improving their logistics performance over time while the worst performing states have seen their performance decrease and deteriorate since 2007. The second interesting (and controversial) finding is that improved logistics service and operations is viewed as more important than additional investments in infrastructure in the region.

The paper then identifies the cross-cutting logistics issues collated from a literature review, a small sample of interviews with logistics firms operating in the region, completed value chain reports from the Regional Value Chain Project (see www.competition.org.za/regional-value-chains), SADC documentation, and finally the tradebarriers.org website, a Tripartite Community – comprising Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), the East African Community (ECA) and SADC and Member States – initiative to report, monitor and eliminate NTB complaints.

A key finding of the paper is that from an economic perspective it is the standing time of trucks stationary at border posts which is the most powerful explanatory variable of SADC’s high transport costs and low logistics competitiveness. The research suggests that standing time is largely due to border post management issues rather than the commonly assumes infrastructure constraints.

Working paper: The crisis at Eskom and industrialisation

2017-11-20T16:15:48+02:00

The current electricity model incorporates a paradox in which continual increases in price contribute to falling demand, which in turn leads to higher unit costs and prices. In this context, high levels of capital expenditure by Eskom have become a critical cost driver.

The contradictory response of raising prices in the midst of declining sales results in part from weaknesses in the regulatory framework for electricity prices, and in part from Eskom’s business model

This working paper reviews the factors behind stagnant Eskom sales. It then analyses why Eskom’s response to these changing conditions has become so paradoxical. It finds that Eskom’s path dependency is generated by the current regulatory framework for electricity prices combined with Eskom’s attachment to an outdated business model.

It then provides a systematic assessment of the costs, benefits and risks of three options for responding to the new conditions.

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Current heterodox industrial policy thinking: A muting of aspirations or sound, pragmatic suggestions?

2017-03-28T14:47:08+02:00

The paper considers new heterodox theoretical contributions to the industrial policy debate in developing countries. Specifically it focuses on the challenge of “getting industrial policy right in circumstances where the country is run by flawed leaders presiding over a politically weak and internally fragmented state” (Change 2010). The paper covers new theoretical thinking on:1) institutions, their quality, how they came to be and the direction of the causality between institutional improvement and economic growth and wealth creation; 2) business state relations and the need to ensure that IP instruments are compatible with existing political power balances; and 3)the capacity and capability of the bureaucracy and the role it plays in ensuring that the state can be embedded with business but not captured by its interests. The paper concludes with some case study examples of interesting IP initiatives, which demonstrate some of this new IP thinking. Examples include the implementation of second best institutions; a process approach to IP in which industry and government make joint discoveries of areas of global competitiveness; thinking about IP at a specific product level; and the islands of excellence work around solutions in cases in which a bureaucracy is constrained.

See Policy Brief: Three new practical ideas in heterodox industrial policy thinking