Pretoria, 31 May 2012 – The South African Revenue Service (SARS) today releases trade statistics for April 2012 that record a trade deficit of R9.9 billion.
Summary
The trade deficit for April 2012 is R9.9 billion (Deficit of R 2.4 billion in April 2011) compared to a deficit of R5.5 billion in March 2012, a month-on-month increase of R4.4 billion. Exports decreased by R9.2 billion (14.9%) to R52.2 billion and imports decreased by R4.8 billion (7.2%) to R62.0 billion.
The increased trade deficit of R9.9 billion in April 2012 was mainly due to decreased exports of mineral products, precious and semi-precious stones, base metals, machinery and electrical appliances and vehicles, aircraft and vessels and decreased imports of mineral products and products of the chemicals or allied industries.
The cumulative deficit for 2012 is R36.5 billion compared to a cumulative deficit of R7.5 billion in 2011.
Trade Highlights by Category
- The March to April change (down by 14.9%) in exports of goods reflected changes mainly in:
- Precious and semi-precious stones and metals decreasing by R3 059 million (-23%);
- Mineral products decreasing by R2 813 million (-16%);
- Base metals and articles thereof decreasing by R 853 million (-11%);
- Machinery and electrical appliances decreasing by R 753 million (-14%); and
- Vehicles, aircraft and vessels decreasing by R 524 million (-10%).
- The March to April change (down by 7.2%) in imports of goods reflected changes mainly in:
- Mineral products decreasing by R4 387 million (-25%);
- Machinery and electrical appliances increasing by R866 million (6%);
- Products of the chemicals or allied industries decreasing by R 469 million (-8%);
- Vehicles, aircraft and vessels increasing by R 33 million (0%); and
- Original equipment components increasing by R 15 million (0%)
Trade Highlights by World Zone
The world zone results for March and April 2012 as given below are unaudited.
- Asia: The deficit increased from R4.8bn in March to R11.4bn in April 2012. Exports decreased by R4.3bn to R18.7bn and imports increased by R2.3bn to R30.1bn.
- Europe: The deficit increased from R 7.1bn in March to R 7.7bn in April 2012. Exports decreased by R 2.1bn to R 11.8bn and imports decreased by R 1.5bn to R 19.5bn.
- America: The deficit increased from R 1.8bn in March to R 2.0bn in April 2012. Exports decreased by R 0.5bn to R 6.1bn and imports decreased by R 0.3bn to R 8.1bn.
- Africa: The surplus increased from R 2.3bn in March to R 5.5bn in April 2012. Exports decreased by R 1.8bn to R 8.8bn and imports decreased by R 5.0bn to R 3.3bn.
- Oceania The deficit decreased from R 0.4bn in March to R 0.2bn in April 2012. Exports increased by R 0.1bn to R 0.8bn and imports decreased by R 0.1bn to R 0.9bn.
SA Trade Release Table:
