Trade mission to Peru a success

Friday, September 7, 2018

South African companies have lauded a recently concluded trade and investment mission to Peru.

Reflecting on the mission organised by the Department of Trade and Industry (dti), Managing Director of Kama Industries, Grand Rousseau, said he viewed the mission to the South American country as a success.

“We came here looking for a distributor for our safety products. We attended an international trade fair in Peru last year and a large number of people who visited our stand were keen to buy our products. We are optimistic that we will be able to sign up a distributor who can import our products so that Peruvians who want them can buy them here in Lima,” said Rousseau on Friday.

Two of the ten companies that Rousseau met with expressed keen interest in doing business with him.

First time participant in the Outward Selling Mission (OSM) to the South American country’s capital, Lima Dennis Maher said he was overwhelmed by the interest shown in his company.

“It was for the first time that I was participating in this kind of a mission. I was impressed by the quality of the meetings I had. I have three quotations to prepare for companies which want to place orders for our hydraulic cylinder repair equipment. I am also returning with a big number of contacts that we can turn into opportunities when we start contacting them from next week,“ said Maher who is a technical support specialist of Micron Technologies.

For The Marketing Manager of La Ric Mal Wines, Malcolm Green, the wine-tasting session on the last day was the highlight of the mission.

“It was for the first time in a mission that we managed to organise a wine-tasting session. The supermarket owners and importers of wine specially arranged with their sommelier to taste our wines. As we expected, he was astounded by the taste and quality of the South African wines and expressed interest in placing orders. He promised to give us feedback in two weeks,” said Green.

The Managing Director of Ditsogo Projects, Tebogo Mashego managed to secure an appointment with a South African mining company doing business in Peru and a possible deal from a Peruvian mining services company.

“There is a possibility of getting an order or a joint venture soon,” said Mashego.

Trade between South Africa and Peru grew from more than R800 million in 2016 to about R1.5 billion last year.

Last week, Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies said the OSM forms part of the dti’s efforts to strengthen bilateral trade relations and increase trade and investment between South Africa and Peru.

This mission, which began on Monday, is the fourth mission to Peru the dti has organised since the technical scoping mission that the dti undertook to Peru in 2013. The delegation will arrive back in South Africa tomorrow. - SAnews.gov.za