Chinese Brand in South Africa: Biggest TV maker creates jobs, contributes taxes

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02:07

Attitudes towards Chinese consumer goods in South Africa continue to change. The products have gone from being some of the cheapest items on the market, to some of the highest quality. Yang Chengxi reports from Cape Town, South Africa on how a Chinese consumer brand there is faring.

South Africa is one of the strongest economies in the Subsaharan region. It's also the area's biggest market for TV sets. The best-seller here is Hisense, a Chinese brand that accounts for a quarter of all TV sales nationwide.

KAM DENG, DEPUTY DIRECTOR HISENSE SA MANUFACTURING "Our South African factory produces up to 600 thousand TV sets a year."

This factory in Cape Town was built in 2013 as a joint investment between Hisense and the China-Africa Development Fund.

YANG CHENGXI CAPE TOWN "South Africa has a 27 percent unemployment rate. Job opportunities at this industrial park are valuable to this local community which is far from the urban areas."

South Africa has a predominantly young workforce. People under the age of 35 account for 70 percent of the country's total population. Of the 3000 employees here, 90 percent are local residents.

KAM DENG, DEPUTY DIRECTOR HISENSE SA MANUFACTURING "The existence of our factory here means tax revenue for the government. We pay about 120 million US dollars worth of taxes every year, which helps the local economy."

2017 was a difficult year for South Africa, with the nation's currency plummeting to new lows and food prices going up. Both affected citizens' purchasing power.

KAM DENG, DEPUTY DIRECTOR HISENSE SA MANUFACTURING "We are holding more promotional events where we sell our products at a certain discount."

For the economy of scale, some of Hisense's upstream providers have also come out to set up bases in Cape Town. Chinese companies are in this market to stay and grow for the long term. Yang Chengxi, CGTN, Cape Town, South Africa.