Trade ban breach possible

Press, 29 August 1986, Page 2

Trade ban breach possible

PA Auckland New Zealand products could end up on South African shelves in spite of the trade embargo, and without the Government here or exporters knowing about it, according to the Export • Institute’s president, Mr Tony Clark. South African importers cotild escape trade sanctions against the country by buying products through brokers, he said. The brokers have traded the products with other brokers, obtaining goods from countries which may have imposed sanctions against South Africa. Neither the original exporter nor the Government of the country the goods have come from would have any way of knowing where the goods ended up. “Some international brokers ... tend not to give information of the final destination of the product,” Mr Clark said. “Exporters here may be two steps away from the final transaction.” Trading through brokers is relatively new for New Zealand exporters, only just beginning to catch on. Often unpopular countries can use them to buy products when they cannot deal direct with the original suppliers. To an exporter, selling to a broker can be an attractive proposition. “Some have hefty buying power,” Mr Clark said. If a New Zealand exporter had a big quantity of a particular product available, particularly of primary produce or food lines, he could sell to an overseas-based broker. That broker could swap that product for another with a second broker, who could then sell it to a country. The practice was common among underdeveloped countries, Mr Clark said. A former Export Institute president, Mr John Lister, said brokerage ensured that trade embargoes were “rarely successful. "Someone in the country will always find a middleman who will move (the products) for them,” he said.