Based on trends for previous years and actual data for 2011 till September, total exports for the year 2011 are expected to be of the order of R 76 billion, against R 155 billion for imports. According to the Central Statistical Office, the trade deficit would be around R 79 billion.

Total exports for the first nine months of 2011 stood at R 56.273 billion against imports of R 105.716 billion, resulting in a trade deficit of R 49.443 billion, which is 5.3% higher than the figure of R 46.974 billion for the corresponding period of 2010.

Total export proceeds for the first nine months of 2011 were valued at R 56.273 billion, representing an increase of 14.6% over the corresponding nine months of last year.

During the first nine months of 2011, almost 40.3% of exports consisted of “articles of apparel and clothing accessories” (R 19.508 billion), 14.4% of “fish and fish preparations” (R 6.953 billion) and 13.1% of sugar (R 6.354 billion).

The main export market remained the European continent with a share of 62.5%, while on a country-wise basis, UK was the main buyer with 21.3% of total exports. The other main markets were France (14.6%), USA (10.7%), Italy (7.9%), Spain (7.4%) and Madagascar (6.2%).

Imports

Total imports for the first nine months of 2011 reached R 105.716 billion, up by 10.0% compared to the first nine months of 2010.

Around 22.5% of our imports comprised of “Mineral fuels, lubricants & related products, (R 23.772 billion), 19.3% “Manufactured goods chiefly classified by materials” (R 20.374 billion), 17.9% “Food and live animals” (R 18.922 billion) and 17.4% of “Machinery and transport equipment” (R 18.381 billion).

The Asian countries supplied 53.9% of the imported products for the nine months of 2011 and another 25.5% came from the European countries. The main source of imports was India (24.1%) followed by China (13.8%), France (8.7%) and South Africa (7.7%)