Africa do Sul flag Africa do Sul: Contexto político-econômico

Valores de comércio da África do Sul

Foreign Trade in Figures

South Africa is very open to international trade, which represented around 56% of the country’s GDP in 2022 (World Bank, 2023). The country mainly exports platinum (12.6%), gold (7.9%), iron ores (7.2%), motor vehicles (5.4%), and coal and similar solid fuels (4.6%). The main imports are petroleum oils (12.6%), transmission apparatus for radio-telephony (3.6%), motor vehicles (3.1), medicaments (2.6%) and automatic data processing machines units (2.1% - Comtrade).

South Africa's top exporting countries are China, the United States, Germany, the UK, Japan and the Netherlands. One-fifth of imports come from China, followed by Germany, the U.S. and India. South Africa is the EU's largest trading partner in Africa: exports to the EU have been growing and becoming more diverse, with the country moving from mainly commodity-based products to a more diversified export profile that includes manufactured goods (World Bank, 2023). In 2019, the African Union launched the operational phase of the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), establishing a single market for goods and services across 54 countries - making it the world's largest free trade area by number of countries.

According to the latest available data from WTO, in 2021, South Africa exported products for USD 123.57 billion, while it imported USD 113.98 billion USD of goods. The country imported services for a total value of USD 13.3 billion, whereas its exports of services in the same year reached USD 8.8 billion. After recording a trade surplus of USD 9.5 billion in 2021 (World Bank), South Africa's preliminary trade surplus for the 11 months to the end of November 2022 was R187.8 billion, less than half of the R402-billion recorded over the same period in 2022 (South African Revenue Service, January 2023).

 
Foreign Trade Indicators 20172018201920202021
Foreign Trade (in % of GDP) 53.554.654.150.856.2
Trade Balance (million USD) 4,4171,8472,65017,75330,552
Trade Balance (Including Service) (million USD) 4,3491,9352,06815,10226,079
Imports of Goods and Services (Annual % Change) 1.53.20.4-17.49.5
Exports of Goods and Services (Annual % Change) -0.32.7-3.4-11.910.0
Imports of Goods and Services (in % of GDP) 26.227.126.823.225.0
Exports of Goods and Services (in % of GDP) 27.327.627.327.631.2

Source: World Bank ; Latest available data

Foreign Trade Forecasts 20222023 (e)2024 (e)2025 (e)2026 (e)
Volume of exports of goods and services (Annual % change) 7.53.65.75.34.6
Volume of imports of goods and services (Annual % change) 14.25.95.33.63.6

Source: IMF, World Economic Outlook ; Latest available data

Note: (e) Estimated Data

 
International Economic Cooperation
South Africa is a member of the following international economic organisations: African Union, WTO, G-20, G-24, G-77, ICC, IMF, among others. For the full list of economic and other international organisations in which participates South Africa click here. International organisation membership of South Africa is also outlined here.
Free Trade Agreements
The complete and up-to-date list of Free Trade Agreements signed by South Africa can be consulted here.
 

Main Partner Countries

Main Customers
(% of Exports)
2022
China 9.6%
United States 8.8%
Germany 7.3%
Japan 7.0%
United Kingdom 5.2%
See More Countries 62.1%
Main Suppliers
(% of Imports)
2022
China 20.1%
India 7.4%
Germany 7.3%
United States 7.3%
Saudi Arabia 4.0%
See More Countries 53.8%

Source: Comtrade, 2022. Because of rounding, the sum of the percentages may be smaller/greater than 100%.

 
 

Main Products

121.6 bn USD of products exported in 2022
Platinum, incl. palladium, rhodium, iridium,...Platinum, incl. palladium, rhodium, iridium, osmium and ruthenium, unwrought or in semi-manufactured forms, or in powder form 13.7%
Coal; briquettes, ovoids and similar solid fuels...Coal; briquettes, ovoids and similar solid fuels manufactured from coal 11.0%
Iron ores and concentrates, incl. roasted iron...Iron ores and concentrates, incl. roasted iron pyrites 5.3%
Motor cars and other motor vehicles principally...Motor cars and other motor vehicles principally designed for the transport of persons, incl. station wagons and racing cars (excl. motor vehicles of heading 8702) 4.7%
Gold, incl. gold plated with platinum, unwrought...Gold, incl. gold plated with platinum, unwrought or not further worked than semi-manufactured or in powder form 4.3%
See More Products 60.9%
111.9 bn USD of products imported in 2022
Petroleum oils and oils obtained from bituminous...Petroleum oils and oils obtained from bituminous minerals (excl. crude); preparations containing >= 70% by weight of petroleum oils or of oils obtained from bituminous minerals, these oils being the basic constituents of the preparations, n.e.s.; waste oils containing mainly petroleum or bituminous minerals 16.7%
Motor cars and other motor vehicles principally...Motor cars and other motor vehicles principally designed for the transport of persons, incl. station wagons and racing cars (excl. motor vehicles of heading 8702) 4.0%
Petroleum oils and oils obtained from bituminous...Petroleum oils and oils obtained from bituminous minerals, crude 3.9%
Telephone sets, incl. telephones for cellular...Telephone sets, incl. telephones for cellular networks or for other wireless networks; other apparatus for the transmission or reception of voice, images or other data, incl. apparatus for communication in a wired or wireless network [such as a local or wide area network]; parts thereof (excl. than transmission or reception apparatus of heading 8443, 8525, 8527 or 8528) 3.3%
Automatic data-processing machines and units...Automatic data-processing machines and units thereof; magnetic or optical readers, machines for transcribing data onto data media in coded form and machines for processing such data, n.e.s. 1.8%
See More Products 70.2%

Source: Comtrade, 2022. Because of rounding, the sum of the percentages may be smaller/greater than 100%.

 
 

To go further, check out our service Import Export Flows.

 

Main Services

Source: United Nations Statistics Division, 2023. Because of rounding, the sum of the percentages may be smaller/greater than 100%.

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