South African Trade Statistics for December 2011

31 Jan 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 11.4 billion in November to R 4.3 billion in December 2011. Exports decreased by R 1.7 billion to 
  R 22.3 billion and imports decreased by R 8.8bn to R 26.6 billion.
  
  
• Europe: The deficit decreased from R 8.8 billion in November to R 2.7 billion in December 2011. Exports decreased by R 0.2 billion to 
  R 15.2 billion and imports decreased by R 6.2bn to R 17.9 billion.
  
  
• America: The deficit increased from R 0.4bn in November to R 1.0 billion in December 2011. Exports decreased by R 1.0 billion to 
  R 7.0 billion and imports decreased by R 0.4bn to R 8.0 billion.
  
  
• Africa: The surplus increased from R 4.8 billion in November to R 4.9 billion in December 2011. Exports decreased by R 1.9 billion to
   R 9.6 billion and imports decreased by R 2.0bn to R 4.7 billion.
  
  
• Oceania The deficit decreased from R 1.0 billion in November to R 0.3 billion in December 2011. Exports decreased by R0.03 billion to
   R 0.6 billion and imports decreased by R 0.8 billion to R 0.9 billion.

For more detail, visit our Trade Data webpage.

Issued by: South African Revenue Service 
31 Jan 2012

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