The South African Revenue Service (SARS) today releases trade statistics for April 2012 that record a trade deficit of R9.9 billion.
Summary
The trade deficit for April 2012 is R9.9 billion (Deficit of R 2.4 billion in April 2011) compared to a deficit of R5.5 billion in March 2012, a month-on-month increase of R4.4 billion. Exports decreased by R9.2 billion (14.9%) to R52.2 billion and imports decreased by R4.8 billion (7.2%) to R62.0 billion.
The increased trade deficit of R9.9 billion in April 2012 was mainly due to decreased exports of mineral products, precious and semi-precious stones, base metals, machinery and electrical appliances and vehicles, aircraft and vessels and decreased imports of mineral products and products of the chemicals or allied industries.
The cumulative deficit for 2012 is R36.5 billion compared to a cumulative deficit of R7.5 billion in 2011.
Trade Highlights by Category
- The March to April change (down by 14.9%) in exports of goods reflected changes mainly in:
- Precious and semi-precious stones and metals decreasing by R3 059 million (-23%),
- Mineral products decreasing by R2 813 million (-16%),
- Base metals and articles thereof decreasing by R853 million (-11%),
- Machinery and electrical appliances decreasing by R753 million (-14%), and
- Vehicles, aircraft and vessels decreasing by R 524 million (-10%).
- The March to April change (down by 7.2%) in imports of goods reflected changes mainly in:
- Mineral products decreasing by R4 387 million (-25%),
- Machinery and electrical appliances increasing by R866 million (6%),
- Products of the chemicals or allied industries decreasing by R 469 million (-8%),
- Vehicles, aircraft and vessels increasing by R 33 million (0%), and
- Original equipment components increasing by R 15 million (0%).
Trade Highlights by World Zone
The world zone results for March and April 2012 as given below are unaudited.
- Asia: The deficit increased from R4.8 billion in March to R11.4 billion in April 2012. Exports decreased by R4.3 billion to R18.7billion and imports increased by R2.3bn to R30.1 billion.
- Europe: The deficit increased from R7.1 billion in March to R7.7 billion in April 2012. Exports decreased by R2.1 billion to R11.8 billion and imports decreased by R1.5bn to R19.5 billion.
- America: The deficit increased from R1.8 billion in March to R2.0 billion in April 2012. Exports decreased by R 0.5bn to R6.1 billion and imports decreased by R0.3 billion to R8.1 billion.
- Africa: The surplus increased from R2.3 billion in March to R5.5 billion in April 2012. Exports decreased by R1.8 billion to R 8.8 billion and imports decreased by R5.0 billion to R3.3 billion.
- Oceania The deficit decreased from R0.4 billion in March to R0.2 billion in April 2012. Exports increased by R0.1 billion to R 0.8 billion and imports decreased by R0.1 billion to R0.9 billion.
