The South African Revenue Service (SARS) today releases trade statistics for October 2011 that record a trade deficit of R9.6 billion.
Summary
The trade deficit for October 2011 is R9.6 billion (deficit of R3.1 billion for October 2010) compared to a surplus of R2.5 billion in September 2011, a month to month decrease of R7.1 billion. The deficit was due to a decrease in exports of R6.6 billion (-9.7%) to R61.2 billion and an increase in imports of R5.5 billion (8.5%) to R70.8 billion.
The change in the trade balance from a surplus of R2.5 billion in September 2011 to a deficit of R9.6 billion in October 2011 was mainly due to increased imports of mineral products, base metals, machinery and electrical appliances, vehicles and aircrafts and original equipment components and decreased exports of mineral products, products of the chemicals or allied industries, precious and semi-precious stones and metals and machinery and electrical appliances.
The cumulative deficit for the year to date is R15.3 billion compared to R13.4 billion in 2010, an increase of R1.9 billion (14%).
Trade Highlights by Category
- The September to October change (down by -9.7%) in exports of goods reflected decreases mainly in:
- precious and semi-precious stones and metals decreased by R4 834 million (-25%);
- products of the chemicals or allied industries decreased by R1 696 million (-41%);
- machinery and electrical appliances decrease by R176 million (-3%);
- mineral products decreased by R107 million (-1%); and
- an increase in base metals by R435 million (6%).
- The September to October change (up by 8.5 %) in imports of goods reflected increases mainly in:
- mineral products increased by R1 726 million (14%);
- base metals and articles thereof increased by R996 million (33%);
- vehicles and aircraft increased by R744 million (11%);
- machinery and electrical appliances increased by R713 million (4%); and
- an increase in Original components by R583 million (15%);
Trade Highlights by World Zone
The world zone results for September and October 2011 as given below are unaudited.
- Asia The deficit increased from R 9.0 billion in September to R13.5 billion in October 2011. Exports decrease by R0.5 billion to R21.6 billion and imports increased by R3.9 billion to R35.1 billion.
- Europe: The deficit increased from R4.0 billion in September to R 7.6 billion in October 2011. Exports decreased by R2.7 billion to R14.6 billion and imports increased by R0.9 billion to R 22.2 billion.
- America: The surplus of R0.2 billion in September changed to a deficit of R 0.7 billion in October 2011. Exports decreased by R 0.5 billion to R 7.5 billion and imports increased by R 0.5billion to R 8.2 billion.
- Africa: The surplus decreased from R 6.7 billion in September to R 6.1 billion in October 2011. Exports decreased by R 0.4 billion to R 10.1 billion and imports increased by R 0.1billion to R 4.0 billion.
- Oceania: The deficit decreased from R 0.4 billion in September to R 0.3 billion in October 2011. Exports increased by R 0.01 billion to R 0.7 billion and imports decreased by R 0.001 billion to R 1.0 billion.
For more detail, visit our Trade Data website.
