Media Releases 2009

South African Trade Statistics for October 2009

Pretoria, 30 November 2009 -- The South African Revenue Service (SARS) today releases trade statistics for October 2009 that record a trade deficit of R6.7 billion.

Summary

The 6.7 billion deficit for October 2009 was mainly due to an increase in imports of 21.92% and a decrease in exports of 3.18%.

Exports for October 2009 of 44.09 billion and imports of R50.80 billion resulted in a deficit of 6.7 billion.

Imports increased by R9.13 billion (21.92%) to R50.80 billion and exports decreased by R1.45 billion (3.18%) to R44.09 billion. 

Trade Highlights by Category

• The September to October change (up by 21.92%) in imports of goods reflected increases mainly in:
  • Mineral products [up by R3.8 billion (46%)];
  • Machinery and mechanical appliances and electrical machinery and equipment [up by R1.9 billion (18%)];
  • Original equipment components [up by R0.9 billion (42%)]; and
  • Vehicles, aircraft and vessels [up by R0.7 billion (20%)].
• The September to October change (down by 3.18%) in exports of goods reflected decreases mainly in:
  • Precious and semi-precious stones and metals [down by R2.7 billion (21%)]; 
  • Products of the chemicals or allied industry [down by R0.4 billion (13%)]; and
  • Vegetable products [down by R0.4 billion (27%)].

Trade Highlights by World Zone

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

• Asia: The deficit increased from R4.7bn in September 2009 to R8.5bn in October 2009.  Exports decreased by R1.6bn to R12.7bn and imports increased by R2.1bn to R21.1bn.
• Europe: The deficit increased from R1.2bn in September 2009 to R4.7bn in October 2009. Exports increased by R0.4bn to R13.1bn and imports increased by R3.9bn to R17.8bn. 
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• America: The deficit increased from R0.4bn in September 2009 to R0.06bn in October 2009.  Exports increased by R0.7bn to R5.3bn and imports increased by R0.02bn to R5.2bn.
• Africa: The surplus decreased from R4.5bn in September 2009 to R2.4bn in October 2009.  Exports increased by R0.7bn to R8.0bn and imports increased by R2.8bn to R5.6bn.

                    For more detail, visit our Trade Statistics page

ENDS