Road Toll Fees To Increase In Mpumalanga Province

The road toll fees are due to increase from 1 March 2009.This is directly going to impact on the pricing of our African Crafts products which we sell from the Mpumalanga Crafts Market.We normally drive there to pick up items which we have sold and the toll fees are already high.We are not going to increase our prices yet but will wait to see how much of an impact it has.We will instead try and keep more stock at our despatch area in Pretoria so we will pick up more items at one time and decrease the cost per item.This is also bad news for the many South Africans from the Gauteng area who spend a lot of their holidays in Mpumalanga as it is the closest scenic province to the Gautengers.This global recession is showing no signs of easing up.Wish we knew how much longer this is going to take..........

Good or bad news for Africa??

Obviously coming from Africa I believe there should be no trade on ivory at all.The fact that there is trade creates an opening for poachers who do not follow guidelines on culling and related issues.It is difficult to ascertain which of the ivory was legally obtained and which not.Until Africa can get out of this poverty the world should not tempt poverty ridden Africans into destroying our heritage so they can have money to buy food.Why not help Africa to grow our own food which we can then export?Ivory sales should be banned completely.See article below for China's "contribution" to ivory sales

China strengthens regulation on ivory consumption
BEIJING, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- China is trying to keep its ivory carving industry alive by banning any new companies from entering the market. The move, announced Friday by the State Forestry Administration (SFA), will help extend existing supplies of ivory for another 15 to 20 years.
Because there are limited amounts of the raw material, the SFA said Chinese companies can now only use no more than five tonnes of it every year.
Also included in the new regulations, is a guideline stating all ivory products must obtain official labels for trade, exhibition or export.
The SFA placed the African elephant under first-class state protection which means they can't be killed, captured or traded. The SFA also vowed to execute a national audit regarding material sand products involving the endangered species.
Ivory carving has taken place for more than 1,800 years in China. The cultural art craft faced severe material shortages after China joined the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) in 1990, which banned global commercial trade of ivory.
In July 2008, China became the second approved trade partner of African ivory by CITES after Japan. China was allowed a one-time purchase of ivory from South Africa, Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe, which helped to increase material supply for the ivory carving industry.

YouTube video of Mpumalanga Crafts Market

Please watch the 3rd YouTube video from the left to see what our crafts market looks like.

I hope to create publicity for African Crafts Direct via this blog.We export African Crafts from the Mpumalanga Province in South Africa.The products are all handcrafted by the people of Mpumalanga and this is a medium to increase their sales as their current income is only derived by direct sales to tourists visiting Mpumalanga.I am attaching a link to our website and we would welcome any and all contructive criticiam on how we can make our website better.Also if you have any marketing ideas please do not hesitate to leave a comment.We appreciate any ideas you might have.I will be releasing a press release as the first marketing step.so here we go...