Pretoria, 31 January 2012 – The South African Revenue Service (SARS) today releases trade statistics for December 2011 that record a trade surplus of R4.7 billion.
Summary
The trade surplus for December 2011 is R4.7 billion (Surplus of 10.3 billion in December 2010) compared to a deficit of R8.0 billion in November 2011, a month-on-month improvement of R12.7 billion. Exports decreased by R5.5 billion (-8.0%) to R63.0 billion and imports decreased by R18.2 billion (-23.8%) to R58.3 billion.
The trade surplus of R4.7 billion in December 2011 was mainly due to a decrease in imports of products of chemical or allied industries, original equipment components, mineral products and machinery and electrical appliances.
The cumulative deficit for 2011 is R15.1 billion compared to a cumulative surplus of R4.8 billion in 2010.
Trade Highlights by Category
- The November to December change (down by -8.0%) in exports of goods reflected changes mainly in:
- Machinery and electrical appliances decreased by R 678 million (-12%);
- Precious and semi-precious stones and metals decreased by R 789 million (-4%);
- Mineral products decreased by R1 318 million (-8%);
- Base metals and articles thereof decreased by R2 154 million (-23%) and
- An increase in Vegetable products by R 747 million (57%).
- The November to December change (down by -23.8 %) in imports of goods reflected changes mainly in:
- Precious and semi-precious stones and metals decreased by R 423 million (-63%);
- Textile and textile articles decreased by R 457 million (-22%);
- Vehicles, aircraft and vessels decreased by R 516 million (-6%);
- Miscellaneous manufactured articles decreased by R 517 million (-39%);
- Plastics and rubber and articles thereof decreased by R 674 million (-23%);
- Vegetable products decreased by R1 118 million (-54%);
- Base metals and articles thereof decreased by R1 172 million (-30%);
- Products of the chemical or allied industries decreased by R1 248 million (-20%);
- Original equipment components decreased by R1 673 million (-42%);
- Mineral products decreased by R4 096 million (-24%); and
- Machinery and electrical appliances decreased by R4 818 million (-25%).
Trade Highlights by World Zone
The world zone results for November and December 2011 as given below are unaudited.
- Asia The deficit decreased from R 11.4bn in November to R 4.3bn in December 2011. Exports decreased by R 1.7bn to
R 22.3bn and imports decreased by R 8.8bn to R 26.6bn. - Europe: The deficit decreased from R 8.8bn in November to R 2.7bn in December 2011. Exports decreased by R 0.2bn to
R 15.2bn and imports decreased by R 6.2bn to R 17.9bn. - America: The deficit increased from R 0.4bn in November to R 1.0bn in December 2011. Exports decreased by R 1.0bn to
R 7.0bn and imports decreased by R 0.4bn to R 8.0bn. - Africa: The surplus increased from R 4.8bn in November to R 4.9bn in December 2011. Exports decreased by R 1.9bn to
R 9.6bn and imports decreased by R 2.0bn to R 4.7bn. - Oceania The deficit decreased from R 1.0bn in November to R 0.3bn in December 2011. Exports decreased by R0.03bn to
R 0.6bn and imports decreased by R 0.8bn to R 0.9bn.
SA Trade Release Table
