South Africa Balance of Trade

Last Release

Jul 31, 2025

Actual

20,290

Units In

ZAR Million

20,960

Frequency

Monthly

Next Release

Sep 30, 2025

Time to Release

29 Days 11 Hours

Highest	Lowest	Average	Date Range	Source
53,829.82 Mar 2021	-36,052.2 Apr 2020	1,632.13 ZAR Million	1957-2025	South African Revenue Service

In 2017, South Africa recorded the biggest trade deficits with China, Saudi Arabia, Germany, Thailand, France, Nigeria, Italy and Brazil and the biggest trade surpluses with Botswana, Namibia, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Belgium and Netherlands.

Latest Updates

South Africa recorded a trade surplus of ZAR 20.3 billion in July 2025, down slightly from a revised ZAR 21 billion in the prior month. Imports jumped by 10.2% over a month to ZAR 164 billion, driven by strong purchases of mineral products (+34%), chemicals (+23%), textiles (+24%) and machinery & electronics (+8%). Imports rose from Asia (+18.9%) and Africa (+9.1%), but fell from Oceania (-7.3%) and remained unchanged from the Americas. Meanwhile, exports rose by 8.5% to ZAR 184 billion, with notable increases in shipments of base metals (+21%), vegetable products (+16%), machinery & electronics (+16%) and mineral products (+7%). Overseas sales increased primarily to Europe (+16.4%), followed by Africa (+7.4%), Asia (+3.8%), the Americas (+1.8%) and Oceania (+1.4%).