News

South African Trade Statistics for December 2009

Pretoria, 29 January 2010 -- The South African Revenue Service (SARS) today releases trade statistics for December 2009 that record a trade surplus of R3.7 billion.

Summary

The R3.7 billion surplus for December 2009 was due to a decrease in imports of 13.73% and a decrease in exports of 1.08%.

Exports for December 2009 of R45.36 billion and imports of R41.69 billion resulted in a surplus of R3.67  billion.                     

Imports decreased by R6.64 billion (13.73%) to R41.69 billion and exports decreased by R0.49 billion (1.08%) to R45.36 billion. 

The cumulative trade deficit for 2009 is R25.84 billion compared to a deficit of R71.63 in 2008, a decline of R45.79 billion or 64%.

Trade Highlights by Category

• The November  to December change (down by 13.73%) in imports of goods reflected decreases mainly in:
• Machinery and electrical appliances [down by R2.7 billion (22%)];
• Original equipment components [down by R1.2 billion (42%)];
• Products of the chemicals or allied industry [down by R0.6 billion (14%)]; 
• Base metals and articles thereof [down by R0.6 billion (30%)];
• Vehicles, aircraft and vessels [down by R0.5 billion (11%)];
• Plastics and rubber and articles thereof [down by R0.4 billion (23%)] ; and
• A decrease of R0.4 billion (39%) in vegetable products 
• The November to December change (down by 1.08%) in exports of goods reflected decreases mainly in: 
• Vehicles, aircraft and vessels [down by R1.9 billion (32%)]; 
• A decrease of R0.6 billion in base metals and articles thereof (9%) ; and
• An increase in mineral products of R1.8 billion (25%).

Trade Highlights by World Zone

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

• Asia: The deficit decreased from R6.1bn in November 2009 to R5.9bn in December 2009.  Exports increased by R0.6bn to R13.2bn and imports increased by R0.3bn to R19.1bn.
• Europe: The deficit of R4.2bn in November 2009 changed to a surplus of R0.9bn in December 2009.  Exports decreased by R0.1bn to R13.4bn and imports decreased by R5.3bn to R12.5bn. 
• America: The deficit of R0.5bn in November 2009 changed to a surplus of R0.05bn in December 2009.  Exports decreased by R1.0bn to R4.6bn and imports decreased by R1.6bn to R4.6bn.
• Africa: The surplus decreased from R3.3bn in November 2009 to R2.9bn in December 2009.  Exports decreased by R0.5bn to R7.4bn and imports decreased by R0.01bn to R4.5bn.

                    For more detail, visit our website, www.sars.gov.za; Customs and Excise; Trade Data

ENDS