30 November 2006
Pretoria - The South African Revenue Service (SARS) today published trade
statistic for the month of October which recorded exports of R39,8 billion and
imports of R52,7 billion. This resulted in a deficit of R12,9 billion. The
increase of the deficit is mainly as a result of a significant month on month
increase in imports of mineral products due to further shut downs of refineries
as well as some stock piling of inventories. Imports increased by R14,9 billion
(40 percent) to R52,7 billion whilst exports increased by R2,2 billion (six
percent) to R39,8 billion.
Trade by category
* The September to October change (up by 40 percent) in imports of goods
reflected significant increases in mineral products, particularly crude oil
(R9,4 billion), machinery, mechanical appliances and electrical equipment,
especially turbo jet machines, word processors and cell phone transmission
apparatus (R1,9 billion), original vehicle equipment components (R986 million),
base metals (R825 million) and vehicles (R771 million). However, imports of
precious and semi-precious stones and metals, specifically diamonds, declined
by R325 million.
* The September to October change in exports of goods (up by six percent)
reflected increases in mineral products, particularly coal, crude oil and ores
(R2.8 billion), precious and semi precious stones and metals, particularly
platinum (R1,1 billion) and base metals (R495 million). Partly offsetting the
effects were decreases which occurred in vehicles (R653 million), vegetable
products (oranges) (R502 million) and machinery, mechanical appliances and
electrical equipment (R435 million).
Trade by world zone
* The trade deficit with Asia increased from R7 billion in September to R14
billion in October. Exports increased by R2,2 billion to R11,2 billion while
imports also increased by R8,7 billion (primarily crude oil from the Middle
East) to R25 billion.
* The trade deficit with Europe increased to R2,8 billion in October trade
surplus of R82 million in September. Exports increased R632 million (primarily
coal and ores) to R14,4 billion while imports increased R3,5 billion (primarily
vehicles, original vehicle equipment components and machinery and mechanical
appliance) to R17,2 billion.
* Month-on-month the trade deficit with America remains unchanged at R1,1
billion. Exports increased by R699 million to R4,96 billion while imports
increased R695 million to R6,1 billion.
* The trade surplus with Africa has reduced from R4 billion to R1,4 billion
(65 percent decline). Exports increased by R352 million to R5 billion while
imports increased by R2,2 billion (primarily crude oil) to R3,6 billion.
Trade for the year
Imports of mineral products particularly crude and petroleum oil have played
a significant role in the volatility of trade data. Large scale imports of
crude oil are largely due to further shut downs of refineries and stock piling
of sufficient inventories for the period of shutdown. Overall, imports of
mineral products have grown by 57 percent year on year, compared to a growth of
21 percent in the previous year. A discount of this significant trade would
reduce the current month's deficit from R12,9 billion to R3,5 billion which is
a figure within range of market expectation of âR3 billion.
Another contributor to the growth in imports has been machinery and
mechanical appliance which have grown by 31 percent year on year compared to a
growth of 15 percent in the previous year. These imports point towards
continued public and private sector investment spending.
Although the growth in imports has continued to outpace the growth in
exports by a margin of more than 12 percent year on year, exports have shown a
steady increase of 17 percent. This growth has been driven mainly by
commodities such as precious and semi-precious stones and metals, mineral
products specifically coal and base metals.
For further enquiries contact:
Adrian Lackay
Cell: 083 388 2580
Issued by: South African Revenue Service (SARS)
30 November 2006
