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Riaan de Lange

This economic and trade-focused column is prepared by Riaan de Lange. The views expressed in this column are the author's personal views

Baiting a better future
3rd October 2025 By: Riaan de Lange

Where were you on Monday, September 15? What were you doing? Too personal? Well, then, but I genuinely hope that you did something nice, even memorable. If you were less inspired, instead keeping... 


High hopes for hemp
26th September 2025 By: Riaan de Lange

Hemp, a plant that, along with bamboo, is the world’s fastest-growing, falls within the botanical class of cannabis sativa cultivars, which are cultivated for industrial and consumable use.... 


WEIDE fund
19th September 2025 By: Riaan de Lange

Does it ring a bell? As it is the year of the sequel, you might want to cast your mind back to the column of October 11, 2024, titled  ‘Women exporters’ fund’. The fund’s full name is Women... 


Borderless vision in focus
12th September 2025 By: Riaan de Lange

The ninth Tokyo International Conference on African Development was held in Yokohama, Japan, from August 20 to 22, with one of the thematic events, ‘Paving the Way to Africa’s Single Market:... 


Metal review II
5th September 2025 By: Riaan de Lange

It truly is the year of sequels. By now, you might be wondering how many sequels there must be before a reboot happens. According to my search engine, there is no set number – reboots are a... 


Calling America
29th August 2025 By: Riaan de Lange

“Can’t get a message through; Calling America, that’s what she said to do, … She left a number I could call; But no one’s there, no one at all; There must be something going wrong; That number just... 


Cock-a-doodle-doo
22nd August 2025 By: Riaan de Lange

“Since the beginning of the seventh administration, South Africa [has] embarked on a process to stabilize and enhance mutually beneficial trade and investment relations with the US.” Have you... 


Asystole finances
15th August 2025 By: Riaan de Lange

Fun fact (a word of caution for experimental readers: do not try this at home) – if all the veins in your body were laid out in a straight line, you would die, as your circulation system would no... 


Ratite reckoning
8th August 2025 By: Riaan de Lange

Can it survive the ‘nervous nineties’ and reach a 100 not out? In case you are keeping score, it has survived for 33 419 days, but the real question is about the next 3 061. It seems that, similar... 


Happytalism
1st August 2025 By: Riaan de Lange

How happy are you? You might rightly question the means of measurement to provide a coherent response. In case you need reminding, ‘happiness’ is defined as a sense of wellbeing, joy or contentment... 


Another butterfly
25th July 2025 By: Riaan de Lange

What were you doing on September 20, 2019? What made the day memorable? If you do not remember reading an article in this column titled ‘Butterfly approach to trade’, then you should sense my... 


Technical tariff amendments
18th July 2025 By: Riaan de Lange

The article published in this column on September 13, 2024, bearing the same headline, dealt with the issue of what a ‘technical tariff amendment’ is. It was also mentioned that the South African... 


The lender’s servant
11th July 2025 By: Riaan de Lange

Full disclosure: the article you are about to read is the fourth in a series, technically known as a tetralogy, where ‘tetra’ means four. When rummaging through this column’s archives, its link to... 


Limbo or mediocris?
4th July 2025 By: Riaan de Lange

Want to venture a guess, calculated or otherwise, as to what this week’s column is all about? Does the title offer a hint? To contextualise, when considering the South African economy and its... 


In the post?
27th June 2025 By: Riaan de Lange

Before we get to the crux of this week’s column, there is a small challenge for you to overcome: a riddle that holds the key to the column, as it were. Here goes: “I start with the letter ‘E’, and... 


Free WTO e-learning
20th June 2025 By: Riaan de Lange

With the midpoint of the year merely days away (at the time of writing), you might find yourself reflecting on the year so far (glass half empty) or imaging what still lies ahead (glass half full).... 


Fee trade – the sequel
13th June 2025 By: Riaan de Lange

To fully appreciate this column, grab your calendar and calculator or prepare to do some mental maths. Start with May 16 and June 21 of 2024. How many days passed between the two dates? On both... 


Brace! Brace! Brace!
6th June 2025 By: Riaan de Lange

Is the third time the charm? The idiom, without the ‘is’ and the question mark, expresses the hope that a third attempt at something will succeed after two failed attempts. If you do not like the... 


I-T-A-C
30th May 2025 By: Riaan de Lange

Want to play a word game? How many five-letter words can you make with the letters I, T, A and C in any position? If you are up for the challenge, it might well help to improve your Wordle® skills.... 


A scrap of evidence
23rd May 2025 By: Riaan de Lange

You might be reading this article after the May 23 deadline for comments on the ‘Price Preference System (PPS) Discount on Ferrous Scrap’. But this does not mean you should stop reading. Instead,... 


In-bred tariff
16th May 2025 By: Riaan de Lange

AI Overview is a feature in Google Search that uses generative AI “to provide concise overviews of topics based on information from various sources”. It says of the headline of this piece: “It is... 


Customs in a clean age
9th May 2025 By: Riaan de Lange

If you are involved in the renewable energy value chain – specifically the solar PV value chain, wind energy value chain, and battery energy storage system (BESS) value chain – then your... 


Apophenia
2nd May 2025 By: Riaan de Lange

There is a belief that things – especially bad things – happen in threes, which both my grandmothers swore by. However, sceptics see this as mere superstition rooted in cognitive bias, where we... 


Rope-a-dope
25th April 2025 By: Riaan de Lange

I am standing at the top of the ‘Rocky Steps’, from the iconic scene in the 1976 Rocky movie, where Rocky Balboa runs up the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. It was a 72-step climb,... 


Iko Iko
18th April 2025 By: Riaan de Lange

“My bestie and your bestie sit down by the fire; Your bestie says: So, can we make these flames go higher?” If you're unaware, these lyrics come from Justin Wellington’s 2020 hit, Iko Iko. I’ve... 


Metal review
11th April 2025 By: Riaan de Lange

If you are involved in the manufacture and import of iron and steel, or articles made of these materials, as well as articles made of base metal, then you may want to consider responding to an... 


Flightless job retention
4th April 2025 By: Riaan de Lange

Listen very carefully; I shall say this only once: “Bolstering employment through job retention!” What do you make of such a slogan? You might find it uninspiring, point out its contradictions or... 


It’s nuts!
28th March 2025 By: Riaan de Lange

The headline of this piece is a colloquial expression meaning something is crazy, foolish or strange, or that someone is acting irrationally or eccentrically. Speaking of nuts, have you ever... 


Origin agreement celebrated
21st March 2025 By: Riaan de Lange

The World Customs Organisation (WCO) recently held the forty-third meeting of its Technical Committee on Rules of Origin (TCRO) in Brussels, Belgium, under the banner of ‘Three Decades of... 


AGRT or AGTR?
14th March 2025 By: Riaan de Lange

 


No way out
7th March 2025 By: Riaan de Lange

Where would it be more appropriate to write about tariffs than in the Roof Terrace and Lounge at 38°53′49.1″N, 77°1′59.8″W – Hotel Washington. It is only a stone’s throw away from 38.8977″N,... 


Raising a glass
28th February 2025 By: Riaan de Lange

A glass or a glass tariff? Now, what type of glass and, for that matter, is it actually a tariff? It might well be a bit premature for you to provide an answer. As for glass manufacturing, can... 


Shaping customs future
21st February 2025 By: Riaan de Lange

Do you still have space on your New Year’s resolution list or want to make a change? Or does the list already need an overhaul? If a change or refocusing is required, and if you are a customs and... 


Flight or fright?
14th February 2025 By: Riaan de Lange

What do you do when your local produce cannot compete in your domestic market? And, before answering, what should your priority be? You pursue an export-driven strategy as your focus. Want to guess... 


Nailing it?
7th February 2025 By: Riaan de Lange

Abraham Maslow, of ‘hierarchy of needs’ fame, in his 1966 book, The Psychology of Science, referenced an earlier quote from Abraham Kaplan, the first philosopher to systematically examine the... 


Termination or extermination?
31st January 2025 By: Riaan de Lange

At times like these, I am reminded of the sagacious words of my grandfather: “If you are not confused, then you do not have all the fact.” Irene Peter offers a slightly different reflection: “If... 


Metal fatigue
24th January 2025 By: Riaan de Lange

“I can’t believe the news today (January 06); oh, I can’t close my eyes and make it go away. How long, how long must we sing this song? How long? How long?”  – to borrow the opening lyrics of Irish... 


Year of the safeguard
17th January 2025 By: Riaan de Lange

Why? Yes, let’s start the year with a ‘why’. Why did the International Trade Administration Commission of South Africa (Itac) announce the initiation of its safeguard investigation in the... 


WTO DG reappointed
13th December 2024 By: Riaan de Lange

The World Trade Organisation (WTO) Council on November 29 announced, by consensus, the early reappointment of its director-general, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, to a second four-year term, which begins... 


The best things in life . . .
6th December 2024 By: Riaan de Lange

It appeared almost unnoticed in a flurry of ‘Latest News’ notifications on the National Treasury’s website on November 13. Can you guess what it is? Well, in the order of publication, the items... 


Trusted Tour Operator Scheme
29th November 2024 By: Riaan de Lange

“I’m happy to say that today is the day. I’m super-excited. I’m shouting, 'Hooray!’" A special acknowledgement for this to renowned poet Kenn Nesbitt from https://poetry4kids.com/poems. Of course,... 


A century of Cf
22nd November 2024 By: Riaan de Lange

The abbreviation Cf stands for the Latin words confer and conferatur, meaning 'compare'. By definition, conferatur instructs the reader to compare one thing with another. But, of course, I wouldn’t... 


Tough going
15th November 2024 By: Riaan de Lange

"When the going gets tough, the tough get going,” as Billy Ocean reminds us in his 1986 hit. But, as we listen to those words, one can’t help but wonder: Tough for whom? Is it for you, for me, for... 


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The SAIMM started as a learned society in 1894 after the invention of the cyanide process that saved the South African gold mining industry of the...

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Weir
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Weir is a global leader in mining technology. We recognise that our planet’s future depends on the transition to renewable energy, and that...

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CSIR International Convention Centre (CSIR ICC) - the leading conference and events venue in Pretoria/Tshwane.

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