South Africa releases trade surplus for November 2022

By Chime Amara

South Africa recorded a significant increase in its trade surplus for November 2022, According to the details posted by the South African Revenue Service (SARS) the South African's trade surplus for November rose to 7.98 billion rand ($471 million) in November, against the previous record of 5.31 billion rand recorded in October. However, this remained below the market expectations of ZAR 13.8 billion.

The trade surplus on its part represents exports of 172.67 billion rand and imports of 164.69 billion rand in November.

Going by other details given by the SARS, the total exports increased by 8.2% MoM with a record of ZAR 172.7 billion. The greatest exports came from the shipment of base metals which amounted to 38%, while machinery & electronics rose by 32%, chemical products by 13%, and vehicle & transport equipment by 7%.

However, some decline were recorded in the sales of precious metals and stones which fell by 5%.

The top South African export partners were China with a record of 10.2% of the overall overseas sales made, this was followed by the US with a record of 9.8% in total sales while Germany emerged as the third South African important export partner with a total of 7.5% in the total sales made.

On the other hand, the total imports decreased by 0.1% to ZAR 164.7 billion, as a result of lower purchases recorded in mineral products which declined by -20%. A mild decline was seen in textiles which declined by 17%, plastic & rubber declined by 20%, chemical products by 8%, and machinery & electronics declined by 7%.

The major South African import partners were China with a total of 20.2% of purchases followed by India with a total of 8.9% of purchases. The third important partner was Germany with a total of 7.7% of purchases.