South Africa Balance of Trade

Last Release

Apr 30, 2025

Actual

14,080

Units In

ZAR Million

22,650

Frequency

Monthly

Next Release

Jun 30, 2025

Time to Release

29 Days 8 Hours

Highest	Lowest	Average	Date Range	Source
53,829.82 Mar 2021	-36,052.2 Apr 2020	1,562.69 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's trade surplus shrank to ZAR 14.1 billion in April 2025, the smallest figure in three months, from a downwardly revised ZAR 22.7 billion in the prior month. Exports slumped by 2.5% over a month to ZAR 166.2 billion, dragged down by lower shipments of vegetable products (-18%), precious metals & stones (-7%) and machinery & electronics (-9%). Exports declined for Europe (-6.8%), Africa (-3.6%) and Asia (-3.3%), but jumped to Oceania (58.4%) and America (20.6%). Conversely, imports rose 2.9% to ZAR 152.1 billion, as higher purchases of precious metals & stones (+47%), of which diamonds, machinery & electronics (+11%), vehicles & transport equipment (+6%), mostly aeroplanes, and original equipment components (+12%) more than offset a 14% decline in mineral products. Imports rose from America (12.9%), Europe (7.6%) and Asia (2.4%), but decreased from Oceania (-20.9%) and Africa (-15.5%).