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We take a look at the latest customs data released by the South African Revenue Service (SARS) and it shows that China is by far South Africa's biggest trading partner both in terms of exports and imports. Germany and the United States takes 2nd and third spot.
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South Africa's trading partners for October 2019
So lets start by looking at the headline numbers for the month of October 2019.
So for the month of October 2019 South Africa exported R3 billlion more in goods than what it imported, giving South Africa a handy trade surplus for October 2019. So which countries are South Africa's biggest export destinations and which countries are South Africa's main import origins? As mentioned in the introduction China, Germany and the United States features prominently. Below the top 5 export destinations for South Africa's exports.
Below the top 5 import origins that South Africa's imports are coming from.
- Total Exports: R123,353,337,388
- Total Imports: R120,260,494,644
- Trade Balance: R3,092,842,744
So for the month of October 2019 South Africa exported R3 billlion more in goods than what it imported, giving South Africa a handy trade surplus for October 2019. So which countries are South Africa's biggest export destinations and which countries are South Africa's main import origins? As mentioned in the introduction China, Germany and the United States features prominently. Below the top 5 export destinations for South Africa's exports.
- China (10.1%)
- Germany (9.1%)
- United States (6.8%)
- Mozambique (5.0%)
- United Kingdom (4.7%)
Below the top 5 import origins that South Africa's imports are coming from.
- China (18.6%)
- Germany (10.1%)
- United States (7.0%)
- India (4.8%)
- Nigeria (3.9%)
A ship anchored in a harbor at sunset
Some might be surprise to see that Nigeria is one of South Africa's top 5 import origins. The reason for this is the fact that South Africa imports a significant amount of crude oil from Nigeria. For the month of October 2019 South Africa imported R4.3 billion worth of crude oil from Nigeria. And this is basically the only thing that we import from Nigeria. South Africa exports a wide variety of products to Nigeria but the overall value of these exports to Nigeria is far less than the amount of crude oil that we import from Nigeria. So South Africa tends to have a significant trade deficit with Nigeria as the value of our exports to Nigeria is a lot lower than the value of our imports from Nigeria. The image below shows the variety of items that South Africa exported to Nigeria during October 2019. In total South Africa exported R591 million to Nigeria during October 2019
South Africa's exports to Nigeria totaled R591 million during October 2019
Taking a look at the total value of imports and exports for 2019 so far per region we see the following.
For 2019 so far South Africa has a positive trade balance (trade surplus with the rest of the world of R5.324 billion, and the bulk of this trade suplus comes from South Africa's trade with Africa as South Africa has a positive trade balance to the value of R163.799 billion with Africa. And a negative trade balance (trade deficit) with Asia to the value of -R143.5 billion for 2019 so far. This is due to the fact that we import a lot more from Asia, especially manufactured goods from China, than what we export to Asian countries. So while the overall trade balance might show a healthy international trade position for South Africa with the rest of the world, the trade balances per region is extremely skew for South Africa and it is unsustainable in the long run. This was the case with the USA and China and it gave effect to trade war currently between these nations. At some point South Africa would need to equalise trade more with Asia and in the same breath the rest of Africa might want to equalise trade between it and South Africa in coming years.
- World Region Exports Imports
- ASIA R 339 410 665 675 R 482 939 766 644
- EUROPE R 286 862 395 586 R 343 944 972 372
- AFRICA R 286 573 258 021 R 122 774 078 082
- AMERICAS R 91 222 920 002 R 107 155 404 029
- OTHER UNCLASSIFIED R 58 416 728 364 R 3 278 258 589
- OCEANIA R 10 990 418 982 R 14 303 354 713
- Ship/Aircraft R 6 243 822 275
- Total R 1 079 720 208 905 R 1 074 395 834 429
For 2019 so far South Africa has a positive trade balance (trade surplus with the rest of the world of R5.324 billion, and the bulk of this trade suplus comes from South Africa's trade with Africa as South Africa has a positive trade balance to the value of R163.799 billion with Africa. And a negative trade balance (trade deficit) with Asia to the value of -R143.5 billion for 2019 so far. This is due to the fact that we import a lot more from Asia, especially manufactured goods from China, than what we export to Asian countries. So while the overall trade balance might show a healthy international trade position for South Africa with the rest of the world, the trade balances per region is extremely skew for South Africa and it is unsustainable in the long run. This was the case with the USA and China and it gave effect to trade war currently between these nations. At some point South Africa would need to equalise trade more with Asia and in the same breath the rest of Africa might want to equalise trade between it and South Africa in coming years.