Media Releases 2009

South African Trade Statistics for November 2009

Pretoria, 30 December 2009 -- The South African Revenue Service (SARS) today releases trade statistics for November 2009 that record a trade deficit of R2.5 billion.

Summary

• The R2.47 billion deficit for November 2009 was due to a decrease in imports of 4.86% and an increase in exports of 4.01%.
• Exports for November 2009 of R45.86 billion and imports of R48.33 billion resulted in a deficit of R2.47 billion.        
• Imports decreased by R2.47billion (4.86%) to R48.33 billion and exports increased by R1.77 billion (4.01%) to R45.86 billion. 

Trade Highlights by Category

• The October to November change (down by 4.86%) in imports of goods reflected decreases mainly in:
  • Mineral products [down by R2.6 billion (-21%)];
  • Products of the chemicals or allied industry [down by R0.6 billion (-11%)] and
  • An increase of R1.0 billion in Vehicles, Aircraft and Vessels (23%)
• The October to November change (up by 4.01%) in exports of goods reflected increases mainly in:
  • Precious and semi-precious stones and metals [up by R2.1 billion (21%)];
  • Vehicles, aircraft and vessels [up by R1.6 billion (37%)]; and
  • A decrease of R1.3 billion in mineral products (-15%).

Trade Highlights by World Zone

The world zone results for November 2009 as given below are unaudited, and those for October 2009 are audited.

• Asia: The deficit decreased from R8.5bn in October 2009 to R6.1bn in November 2009.  Exports increased by R0.01bn to R12.6bn and imports decreased by R2.4bn to R18.7bn.
• Europe: The deficit decreased from R4.7bn in October 2009 to R4.2bn in November 2009. Exports increased by R0.5bn to R13.6bn and imports decreased by R0.01bn to R17.77bn. 
• America: The deficit decreased from R0.06bn in October 2009 to R0.05bn in November 2009.  Exports increased by R0.4bn to R5.6bn and imports increased by R0.9bn to R6.1bn.
• Africa: The surplus increased from R2.4bn in October 2009 to R3.4bn in November 2009.  Exports decreased by R0.1bn to R7.9bn and imports decreased by R1.1bn to R4.5bn.

 
              
              
 For more detail, see our Trade Data statistics.

ENDS
For further media enquiries please call Adrian Lackay, SARS Communications, (012) 422 4206 or 083 388 2580