Kodak to Leave S. Africa, Stop Selling Products There

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Eastman Kodak Co. today became the fifth major U.S. corporation in three months to withdraw from South Africa and the first company to completely pull its products from the marketplace in that nation.

Kodak, the world’s largest photographic company, blamed South African racial policies and a slowdown in the nation’s economy for the withdrawal.

“We . . . have no doubt that the system of apartheid has played a major role in the economy’s under-performance,” Colby H. Chandler, chairman and chief executive officer, said in a statement.

Kodak employs 466 people at five sales and service facilities in South Africa. Ian Guthrie, director of employee information, said 130 are black, 130 of mixed race, about 20 Asian and the rest white.

Computer Subsidiary

Atex Inc., a Kodak computer-making subsidiary based in Massachusetts, also announced it will pull out, according to a Johannesburg spokesman quoted by the South African Press Assn.

Three major South African newspaper chains use Atex systems: the Argus Group, South African Associated Newspapers, and Nasionale Pers.

Company spokesman Henry Kaska, commenting on why the sale of Kodak products will be banned after April 30, 1987, said:

“We went all the way. We decided we wouldn’t take any halfway measures. We went our own way.

“The reason for the grace period is to allow our customers to find other supply sources. You can’t just tell a hospital that it can’t buy any more X-ray film.”

Other Corporate Actions

General Motors and IBM have turned over their operations to locally owned companies as a means of preserving markets and jobs. Coca-Cola, Sara Lee, Warner Communications and Honeywell are ending their corporate presence but have said they will continue selling their products in South Africa.

Kodak, which began operating in South Africa in 1913, has its South African marketing headquarters in Johannesburg, with branches in Durban, Port Elizabeth, Cape Town and Bloemfontein. The company also operates film-processing laboratories in five locations.

Kaska said that South African operations account for “far less” than 1% of Eastman Kodak’s $10 billion in worldwide sales and that withdrawal will not have “a material effect” on the company.