1.  Overview the trade of SOUTH AFRICA in goods current year until 202309

According to Dalian Infobank, in 202309, SOUTH AFRICA's exports and imports of goods amounted to 17712.4612 million, and were down 13.21% comparing with the same period of last year. Among these, exports were down 15.90% at 9202.4486 million, and imports were down 10.10% at 8510.0125 million. And the corresponding trade surplus was 692.4361 million and down 53.10%.

During the current year until 202309, SOUTH AFRICA's total exports and imports of goods were 163690.4352 million and were down 8.36% comparing to the same period of last year. Among these, exports were 82958.1106 million and down 12.81%; imports were 80732.3246 million and down 3.29%. The total trade surplus was 2225.7860 million and down 80.92%.

If considering by country (region), CHINA, UNITED STATES, GERMANY, INDIA, JAPAN were SOUTH AFRICA's top five trading partners. During the current year until 202309, SOUTH AFRICA's imports and exports to five countries/territories were 26390.0104 million, 13101.4191 million, 12571.8164 million, 8929.5284 million, 6525.8709 million. These values correspond to 16.12%, 8.00%, 7.68%, 5.46%, 3.99% of SOUTH AFRICA's imports and exports, and, respectively, were up 2.83%, down 7.56%, down 11.66%, down 11.64%, down 26.28% comparing to the same period of last year.

Current year until 202309, SOUTH AFRICA and the top five trade partners CHINA, UNITED STATES, GERMANY, OTHER COUNTRIES, MOZAMBIQUE are the top five countries/territories that SOUTH AFRICA exports to in terms of the total export amount. During the current year until 202309, SOUTH AFRICA's exports to these five countries/territories were 9378.3220 million, 6396.4313 million, 5877.0868 million, 4934.6690 million, 4504.9797 million. These values correspond to 11.30%, 7.71%, 7.08%, 5.95%, 5.43% of SOUTH AFRICA's exports and, respectively, were up 3.78%, down 20.84%, down 26.80%, up 11.69%, down 1.04% comparing with the same period of last year.

Current year until 202309, SOUTH AFRICA's exports to top five countries/territories CHINA, UNITED STATES, GERMANY, INDIA, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES are the top five countries/territories that SOUTH AFRICA imports from in terms of the total export amount. During the current year until 202309, SOUTH AFRICA's imports from these five countries/territories were 17011.6883 million, 6704.9879 million, 6694.7295 million, 5403.6400 million, 3097.4948 million. These values correspond to 21.07%, 8.31%, 8.29%, 6.69%, 3.84% of SOUTH AFRICA's total imports and, respectively, were up 2.32%, up 10.05%, up 7.95%, down 6.11%, up 7.73% comparing with the same period of last year.

During the current year until 202309, the trade surplus of SOUTH AFRICA was mainly from OTHER COUNTRIES, MOZAMBIQUE, BOTSWANA, UNITED KINGDOM, JAPAN at 4289.2281 million, 3742.1246 million, 2641.4936 million, 2635.8239 million, 2461.9864 million, and up 15.78%, down 2.81%, down 11.46%, down 24.42%, down 45.78%. And the trade deficits were mainly from CHINA, THAILAND, OMAN, INDIA, SAUDI ARABIA at 7633.3663 million, 2327.4700 million, 1919.7288 million, 1877.7516 million, 1826.7543 million, and up 0.57%, up 16.57%, down 0.58%, up 33.63%, down 42.72%.

Current year until 202309, SOUTH AFRICA's trade surplus or deficit with top five countries/territories During the current year until 202309,  commodities with hs2 codes, 27, 71, 87, 84, 26, were SOUTH AFRICA's top five traded commodities. They correspond to the import and export values of 24890.3437 million, 16472.1924 million, 15608.3142 million, 14465.6317 million, 12137.9214 million, which were down 22.03%, down 24.90%, up 9.58%, up 0.89%, down 5.52% comparing with the same period of last year and account for 15.21%, 10.06%, 9.54%, 8.84%, 7.42% of SOUTH AFRICA's total imports and exports.

During the current year until 202309, 71, 26, 87, 27, 72 were SOUTH AFRICA's top five traded commodities, with total import and export values of 15341.0953 million, 12095.3063 million, 9084.8843 million, 8849.9988 million, 4935.9926 million. These values correspond to 18.49%, 14.58%, 10.95%, 10.67%, 5.95% of SOUTH AFRICA's total exports and, respectively, were down 26.22%, down 5.55%, up 9.47%, down 33.72%, down 6.51% comparing to the same period of last year.

During the current year until 202309, 27, 85, 84, 98, 87 were SOUTH AFRICA's top five traded commodities, with total import values of 16040.3449 million, 9760.7401 million, 9721.3287 million, 6792.5230 million, 6523.4299 million. These values correspond to 19.87%, 12.09%, 12.04%, 8.41%, 8.08% of SOUTH AFRICA's total exports and, respectively, were down 13.63%, up 28.15%, up 4.18%, up 19.21%, up 9.74% comparing to the same period of last year.

2. Current year until 202309, SOUTH AFRICA binational trade profile

According to Dalian Infobank, during the current year until 202309, SOUTH AFRICA-China binational exports and imports of goods amounted to 26390.0104 million and were up 2.83% comparing with the same period of last year. Among these, exports from SOUTH AFRICA to China were 9378.3220 million and up 3.78%, imports from China to SOUTH AFRICA were 17011.6883 million and up 2.32%. The total binational trade deficit was 7633.3663 million and up 0.57%.

During the urrent year until 202309, commodities with hs2 code, 85, 26, 84, 72, 87, were binational trade's top five traded commodities. They correspond to import and export values of 6202.6556 million, 5896.3402 million, 3023.2275 million, 1721.5216 million, 894.7678 million and makes up 23.50%, 22.34%, 11.46%, 6.52%, 3.39% of the total binational imports and exports. These values were also up 45.15%, up 0.95%, down 9.20%, up 10.98%, up 9.63% comparing to the same period last year.

During the current year until 202309, 26, 72, 74, 08, 47 were the top five traded commodities exported to China from SOUTH AFRICA, with export values of 5890.6513 million, 1246.9487 million, 620.1524 million, 316.8939 million, 282.1711 million. These values account for 62.81%, 13.30%, 6.61%, 3.38%, 3.01% of SOUTH AFRICA's total exports and were up 0.91%, up 19.17%, up 22.36%, down 3.62%, up 65.46% comparing to the same period of last year.

During the current year until 202309, 85, 84, 87, 72, 39 were SOUTH AFRICA's top five traded commodities importing from China , with import values of 6194.8620 million, 3006.0120 million, 874.1044 million, 474.5728 million, 430.8979 million. These values account for 36.42%, 17.67%, 5.14%, 2.79%, 2.53% of SOUTH AFRICA's total imports and were up 45.14%, down 9.14%, up 7.96%, down 6.00%, down 16.02% comparing with the same period of last year.

3.Analysis of import and export trends

Data Source: South African Revenue Service