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< SA Trade Data Page

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South Africa's trade with the European Union
Category: Economics
Last updated: 7 June 2019

Related Topics

This page is dedicated to trade data and discussions between South Africa and its EU trading partners. It will be updated on a regular basis as more data becomes available.

• ​South Africa's Trade Data Page

7 June 2019: Products South Africa exports to and imports from the EU

Yesterday we covered South Africa's trade with EU member states but we did not go into detail as to what exactly South African imports from and Exports to the EU. In today's update we take a look at the main product categories of South Africa's exports to the UE and imports from the EU on a treemap for April 2019. The treemap below shows the main export categories for South Africa to the EU for the month of April 2019.

Treemap showing main export categories from South Africa to the EU for April 2019

The top 5 product categories exported to the EU during April 2019 were (contribution to total exports to EU shown in brackets):

• Vehicles, Aircrafts and Vessels (38.67%)
• Precious metals (12.94%)
• Mineral products (11.55%)
• Products of Iron and Steel (9.89%)
• Machinery (7.54%)

The top 5 product categories imported from the EU during April 2019 were (contribution to total imports from EU shown in brackets):

• Machinery (21.17%)
• ​Chemicals (15.61%)
• Equipment components (15.49%)
• Vehicles, Aricrafts and Vessels (12.15%)
• Plastics and Rubber (5.73%)

So the question most would ask is why is South Africa exporting more vehicles  (in percentage terms) to the EU than what they are importing from the EU? Well readers will see equipment components make up a big part of South Africa's imports from the EU. This is vehicle parts that are imported into South Africa which is then used to manufacture, BMW's, Volkswagens and Mercedes-Benz cars in South Africa (right hand drive cars), which South Africa then exports back to the EU, in particular to the UK  which uses right hand drive cars. South Africa also manufactures right hand drive cars for the big German brands for the local market, reducing the need to import vehicles in South Africa.

6 June 2019: South Africa's trade with EU members for Q1:2019

In this update we take a look at the total value of imports from the EU into South Africa  and exports from South Africa to the EU. Who in the EU is South Africa's biggest trading partner? Is it Germany, the UK, France of Italy? The summary below shows the total value of South Africa's exports to EU members for the first quarter of 2019 (ranked from highest to lowest).

• Germany:R 24 157 352 614
• United Kingdom:R 11 644 864 183
• Netherlands:R 10 214 552 317
• Belgium:R 8 657 110 197
• Spain:R 4 351 079 893
• Italy:R 2 785 489 331
• France:R 2 382 366 939
• Czech Republic:R 1 227 188 268
• Poland:R 696 846 356
• Sweden:R 550 682 315
• Slovenia:R 505 446 894
• Lithuania:R 503 265 904
• Ireland:R 372 659 330
• Portugal:R 355 640 764
• Hungary:R 353 032 744
• Greece:R 302 396 388
• Denmark:R 281 741 740
• Austria:R 278 194 900
• Finland:R 189 376 806
• Romania:R 143 911 557
• Estonia:R 99 688 871
• Croatia:R 93 894 194
• Bulgaria:R 79 733 675
• Cyprus:R 41 778 011
• Luxembourg:R 29 654 915
• Malta:R 12 362 817
• Latvia:R 11 799 519
• Slovakia:R 3 052 246

The summary below shows the total value of South Africa's imports from EU members for the first quarter of 2019:

• Germany:R 31 196 684 430
• United Kingdom:R 9 161 590 814
• Italy:R 8 047 124 796
• France:R 6 440 722 768
• Spain:R 4 394 247 474
• Sweden:R 3 446 494 607
• Netherlands:R 3 427 864 750
• Poland:R 3 219 267 267
• Czech Republic:R 3 157 067 420
• Belgium:R 2 944 151 627
• Austria:R 2 311 418 901
• Ireland:R 1 929 227 584
• Romania:R 1 553 493 888
• Finland:R 1 284 494 285
• Hungary:R 998 855 603
• Denmark:R 971 405 096
• Slovakia:R 940 802 348
• Portugal:R 908 354 228
• Bulgaria:R 433 283 549
• Lithuania:R 414 560 709
• Latvia:R 369 313 215
• Greece:R 329 417 702
• Slovenia:R 253 571 105
• Estonia:R 160 840 186
• Luxembourg:R 131 982 888
• Croatia:R 56 439 950
• Cyprus:R 11 949 380
• Malta:R 11 320 404

So from the above it is clear Germany is South Africa's biggest export destination in the EU as well as the biggest source of South Africa's imports from the EU. Germany made up 34.35% of South Africa's exports to the EU while it made up 35.24% of South Africa's imports from the EU.  The United Kingdom came a distant second place as it is the second biggest export destination for South Africa in the EU and its the second biggest import origin in the EU for South Africa. The United Kingdom made up 16.6% of South Africa's total exports to the EU, while it made up 10.3% of total value of imports from the EU by South Africa during the first quarter of 2019

29 June 2018: SA's trade with the EU. Which EU countries contributes the most?

In today's update we take a look at the contribution various countries  of the EU make up in trade with South Africa. We will take a look at both South African exports to EU countries as well as South African imports from EU states. So just who is our biggest export destination the EU? Is it Germany, France, Italy or the United Kingdom, or is there another member state who we export more to?  And who do we import the most from within the EU? Germany and all the cars we import from them? Italy or France and all the food and wine we import from these states? We take a look below.

Exports:

The chart below shows South Africa's biggest export destinations within the EU for 2018 so far. And as it shows trade with the EU is dominated by Germany, with roughly a third of South Africa's exports to the EU heading to Germany

Large amounts of South African exports heading to Germany and the UK are vehicles that are manufactured in South Africa on behalf of various German manufacturers such as Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen and BMW. South Africa builds these vehicles (in particular RHD) cars and then export them back to Germany or to the United Kingdom (where RHD vehicles are used). And due to this South African exports to the EU are dominated by Germany and the United Kingdom.

The surprise in the above chart is Netherlands. But this is due to the Rotterdam trade port. It is a gateway from entry into Europe. So when it is exported out of South Africa it is coded as heading to Netherlands, but the item's true destination might not be the Netherlands at all, it just arrives in Rotterdam and is then shipped onwards to its final destination. And this is why Netherlands makes up such a big portion of trade within the EU.

Imports:

The chart below shows South Africa's biggest import origins within the EU for 2018 so far. And as it shows import trade with the EU is dominated by Germany, with roughly a third of South Africa's imports from  the EU coming from Germany. Large parts of this is made up by vehicle parts that South African plants use to build German vehicles.

As with Exports, South Africa's imports from the EU are dominated by Germany and the United Kingdom, for mostly the same reasons as mentioned earlier. Motor vehicle imports from both these countries, and the import of parts and related equipment for vehicles used in manufacturing cars and for the maintenance and upkeep of cars. Readers will notice that Netherlands are a lot lower down on the list when it comes to imports, this is because fewer of the goods imported from EU countries go via Netherlands onwards to South Africa.

6 March 2018: South Africa's exports and imports to all  European countries including EU members for 2017

 The graphic below shows the total exports by South Africa to all European countries for 2017, including all member states of the European Union. And as the graphic below shows SA exports to Europe is dominated by a select few countries such as Germany, UK, France, Italy and Netherlands (but we believe Netherlands measures highly as  its a trade port and not the final destination and some of SA's trade is incorrectly traded as heading for Netherlands while the Rotterdam port is just a point of entry in Europe. We would therefore advise against taking the numbers for Netherlands very seriously.

Exports

South Africa's top 10 export destination in Europe for 2017 are as follows (with Rand value exported next to the country name):

Germany: R 84 200 699 399
United Kingdom: R 46 356 779 390
Netherlands: R 37 083 631 950
Belgium: R 33 022 069 176
Spain: R 16 803 747 302
Italy: R 14 014 835 941
Switzerland: R 11 705 725 406
France: R 10 452 391 420
Russian Federation: R 4 736 354 971
Czech Republic: R 2 485 220 848

Germany is by far South Africa's biggest export destination for 2017 with it making up almost double the value of goods being exported to the 2nd biggest export destination in Europe for South Africa which is the United Kingdom. As mentioned Netherlands makes an appearance close to the top even though we know those goods recorded as heading to Netherlands will in all likelihood go from the Netherlands to other countries in Europe.

Imports

The graphic below shows the total value of imports by South Africa per country in Europe  for 2017. And Germany and the United Kingdom again top the ranks, as they did with South Africa's exports to Europe for 2017.

The top 10 import destinations from which South Africa imported goods from Europe for 2017 is shown below with the total value of imports shown next to the the name of the country. And Germany dominates imports even more than they do in exports. Germany's imports into South Africa is 3.8 times the size of the second biggest import destination in Europe for South Africa, which is the United Kingdom. It most mostly machinery and equipment being imported in South Africa from Germany, as well as OEM equipment used in South Africa for manufacturing German cars such as Volkswagen, VW and BMW.

Germany: R 127 541 573 545
United Kingdom: R 33 280 290 013
Italy: R 29 676 417 715
France: R 27 864 465 577
Spain: R 20 957 181 713
Netherlands: R 16 393 243 935
Sweden: R 12 097 215 114
Belgium: R 11 802 007 123
Poland: R 10 375 944 249
Switzerland: R 10 237 033 176

SA's 10th biggest import destination in Europe is a 12th the size of their biggest import destination, just showing how skewed South Africa's imports from Europe is towards the Germans.

27 November 2017: South Africa's trade with Greece looked at in more detail

In this update we will take a look at South Africa's cumulative trade so far for 2017 (Jan 2017 to Sep 2017) with small but pretty EU member, Greece. So what exactly is SA exporting to Greece, and what is SA importing from Greece. And what does the cumulative trade balance for 2017 look like between these two countries. The below graphic shows the exports, imports and trade balance per main product category for trade between these two countries so far in 2017.

From the graphic it is clear that South Africa has a positive trade balance (SA's value of exports to Greece is higher than the value of imports from Greece) with Greece in the majority of groupings. Interestingly South Africa has rather significant trade deficits with Greece in the following product categories:

• Chemicals
• Machinery

While Greece is known for a lot of things, such as their fresh produce and beautiful country, it is rather surprising that Chemicals feature so strongly from Greece. But when does some digging on Greece, it actually turns out that chemicals is a rather big deal in Greece. It accounts for about 15% of Greece's total exports, and almost 8% of the country's total industrial production (according to the UN). As they say, one is never to old to learn something. And we were pleasantly surprised to learn about the strong chemicals industry in Greece. 

As for trade between South Africa and Greece for 2017, currently South Africa has a positive trade balance with Greece for the first 9 months of 2017, of R79.4million. In coming days we will highlight a few more countries in Europe with which South Africa has positive trade balances.

South Africa's trade with EU over time per country for both imports and exports

The graphic below is a scaled down version of our interactive graphic on our Trade Data page that shows SA's trade with all countries over time, and focuses on trade between South Africa and it's EU trading partners. Users can compare imports from any of the EU countries to the exports to those countries, or just compare South Africa exports to EU countries, or EU country imports to South Africa. Or any combination that users want to look at. 
Press the MAX button to see the time series from 2010 to latest available data for 2017.

Looking at the trade graphic above it clear that when it comes to South Africa's imports from the EU, their biggest trading partner is Germany, followed by the United Kingdom, then France and Italy a close 4th behind France. But SA's imports from Germany dwarfs the imports from the rest of their EU trading partners. So what about exports?

When it comes to SA exports to the EU countries, again Germany is South Africa's biggest trading partner in the EU. And again the UK is South Africa's second biggest exports market in the EU. But this time round Italy takes the third spot in terms of SA exports ahead of France who occupies the fourth spot. Please enjoy the interactive graphic above.

June 2016: SA's trade with the EU.. Before Brexit

We take a detailed look at trade taking place between South Africa and the EU (as we used to know it before Brexit). We will put trade of the whole EU into context compared to trade with the UK and the rest of the world, as well as look into what exactly what South Africa is trading in with EU countries.

Note data for 2016 is extrapolated based on trade data so far for 2016, its extrapolated for the rest of 2016 to make comparisons a little easier.

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Just how big is South Africa's trade with the European Union, specifically the EU and when its compared to total trade with all countries in the world? Well the bar chart below shows for both imports and exports, the value of trade with the EU compared to total trade with all countries, for both imports and exports. 

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Trade Balances

The bar below shows the trade balances between South Africa and the EU and South Africa and all countries. It's clear from the bar chart that South Africa has not had a positive trade balance (Value of exports being more than value of imports) with the EU from 2009 to 2016. Yet it had positive trade balances when all countries in the world are considered in 2009 to 2011. Perhaps it is time for South Africa to relook trade negotiations with EU members as they are clearly benefitting more from trade with South Africa, then South Africa does by trading with EU members.

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Trade Balance per EU country

While the above bar chart showed that in total trade with the EU South Africa has a negative trade balance, the graphic below will look at our trade balances with specific countries within the EU starting from 2009 till 2016.

What is interesting to note is the fact that South Africa has a positive trade balance with the UK (probably vehicle exports to the UK) who shocked the world by voting to leave the EU. Hopefully future trade discussions and agreements with the UK will continue to yield positive results  for South Africa as it has in the past (based on the data above).

South Africa has massive negative trade balances with Germany, France and Italy. Presumably vehicle and vehicle parts imports from these countries playing a big part in this. While vehicle and parts imports plays a massive role in the negative trade balances with Germany for example, after the parts of vehicles are imported it's assembled it is exported to countries such as the UK (that has right hand drive cars  like South Africa). So the massive negative trade balances with Germany for example is offset a little by vehicles that are then exported to right hand drive markets such as the UK.

Next we will take a look at the commodities contributing the most to the value of South Africa's imports and exports from and to the EU countries.

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Commodities Imported and Exported

So now that we know what the value of trade with the EU is, and our trade balances with various EU countries look like, what exactly are we importing and exporting from and to these countries? We take a look below.

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Exports

By far South Africa's biggest export to the EU from 2009 to 2016 is precious metals and stones, with it making up around 17.7% of total exports too the EU, followed by vehicle and related parts exports to the EU with it making up around 13.7% of exports over the period 2009 to 2016. Other natural resources that ranks highly includes ores,slags and ash (9.7%)  and Iron and steel (8.6%)

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Imports

Our biggest import from the EU from 2009 to 2016 has been broilers, machinery and equipment  and mechanical appliances with it making up almost 20% of imports from the EU. Vehicle and parts imports amounted to 13.4% of total imports into South Africa from the EU. Largely due to vehicle imports from Germany, France and Italy.

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Relative contributions of various EU countries to Imports and Exports

The two pie charts below shows the relative contribution of the various EU countries to South Africa's imports from and exports to various EU countries.

Imports

Germany is by far the biggest contributor to South Africa's imports from the EU, with almost 37% of imports from the EU coming from Germany. The UK contributes around 12% of total imports from the EU into South Africa. Which is about a third the size of Germany's contribution. Italy and France makes up 8.9% and 8.6% respectively of imports from the EU coming into SA.

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Exports

As was the case with South African imports from the EU, Germany is the biggest contributor to South African exports to the EU, with roughly 28.3% of exports from South Africa to the EU going to Germany.  Interstingly the contribution of the UK is a lot bigger for exports (19.4%) than it is for imports. As we suggested earlier this might be due to right hand drive cars being built in South Africa being exported to the UK.

Netherlands make up a substantial contribution t South Africa's exports to the EU. This is not neccesarily exports from South Africa heading into the Netherlands, but possibly goods heading to the Port of Rotterdam and then being distributed across Europe from there. Goods might merely be marked as heading to Netherlands when it leaves South Africa, but the final destination could be anywhere in Europe, therefore figures reported for Netherlands should be looked at with caution. Another interesting observation is the strong contribution of Belgium to South African exports to the EU with around 11.7%, while Belgium only contributed 4.1% of goods being imported from the EU (this is reflected in the massive positive trade balance South Africa has with Belgium as exports to Belgium far outstrips imports from Belgium).

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While Brexit shocked the world and the EU, the contribution of the UK to South Africa's overall trade (while being positive) is relatively small, especially considering the size of Germany's contribution to South Africa's trade with the EU. If trade agreements are renegotiated between the EU and the UK and they (the UK) get less trade from the EU due to them leaving the EU other countries stand to gain, South Africa included, but based on the current size of trade between South Africa and the UK, the size of the gains might not be very significant, as overall trade with the EU only makes up around 25% of total trade of South Africa (and of that about 30% is made up by Germany, and only around 13% ​is made up by the UK). In essence, only 3.2% of South Africa's total trade is with the UK. While trade with Germany makes up around 7.2% of South Africa's total trade.

So minister Davies, perhaps instead of saying to the UK we will be happy to take on increased trade with the UK, we should rather look to keep the Germans happy as they a far bigger trading partner for South Africa than the UK. And in future trade agreements with Germany, lets make deals that makes SA money (as currently with Germany we import way more from them than what they import from us, putting us at a net loss with Germany. As the substantial negative trade balance with Germany shows).

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Related Topics

• ​South Africa's Trade Data Page​

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