News

South African Trade Statistics for January 2010

Pretoria, 26 February 2010 -- The South African Revenue Service (SARS) today releases trade statistics for January 2010 that record a trade deficit of R3.3 billion.


Summary

The R3.3 billion deficit for January 2010 was due to a decrease in imports of 4.14% and a decrease in exports of 19.24%.

Exports for January 2010 of R36.64 billion and imports of R39.97 billion resulted in a deficit of R3.33 billion.       
                                                                       
Imports decreased by R1.73 billion (4.14%) to R39.97 billion and exports decreased by R8.73 billion (19.24%) to R36.64 billion. 

The monthly trade deficit for 2010 is R3.33 billion compared to a deficit of R17.47 billion in January 2009, a decline of R14.14 billion or 81%.


Trade Highlights by Category

• The December to January change (down by 4.14%) in imports of goods reflected decreases mainly in:
  • Mineral products [down by R5.1 billion (44%)];
  • A decrease of R1.0 billion (21%)] in vehicles, aircraft and vessels.
• The December to January change (down by 19.24%) in exports of goods reflected decreases mainly in:
  • Precious and semi-precious stones [down by R3.4 billion (27%)];
  • Vehicles, aircraft and vessels [down by R1.7 billion (41%)];
  • Machinery and electrical appliances [down by R1.3 billion (32%) and
  • Mineral products [down by R0.7 billion (8%)];

Trade Highlights by World Zone

The world zone results for January 2010 as given below are unaudited, and those for December 2009 are audited.

• Asia: The deficit decreased from R5.9bn in December 2009 to R5.2bn in January 2010.  Exports decreased by R1.2bn to R12.0bn and imports decreased by R1.8bn to R17.3bn.
• Europe: The surplus of R0.9bn in December 2009 changed to a deficit of R2.6bn in January 2010.  Exports decreased by R1.3bn to R12.1bn and imports increased by R2.2bn to R14.7bn. 
• America: The surplus of R0.05 bn in December 2009 changed to a deficit of R0.6bn in January 2010.  Exports decreased by R0.8bn to R3.8bn and imports decreased by R0.1bn to R4.4bn.
• Africa: The surplus increased from R2.9bn in December 2009 to R3.0bn in January 2010.  Exports decreased by R1.8bn to R5.5bn and imports decreased by R2.0bn to R2.5bn.

For more detail, see our Trade Statistics page.

Trade Staticstics table for January 2010:

 ENDS

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