South Africa Balance of Trade

Last Release

Sep 30, 2025

Actual

21,760

Units In

ZAR Million

3,970

Frequency

Monthly

Next Release

Nov 28, 2025

Time to Release

26 Days 11 Hours

Highest	Lowest	Average	Date Range	Source
53,829.82 Mar 2021	-36,052.2 Apr 2020	1,658.48 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 widened to ZAR 21.8 billion in September 2025 from a downwardly revised ZAR 2.4 billion in the prior month. It was the largest trade surplus since March this year, as exports soared 9.4% over a month to a 2-1/2-year high of ZAR 186.4 billion, boosted by precious metals & stones (+34%). Shipments also increased for mineral products (+8%); base metals (+8%) and vehicles & transport equipment (+7%), but fell for vegetable products (-6%). Exports rose to the Americas (+28.9%), Asia (+19.5%) and Oceania (+6.5%), while declining to Africa (-2.9%) and Europe (-1.3%). Meanwhile, imports dropped by 2% to ZAR 164.6 billion, on lower purchases of original equipment components (-18%); vegetable products (-20%) and precious metals & stones (-17%). Acquisitions were reduced from Europe (-10%), Oceania (-10.3%) and the Americas (-4.6%), but increased from Africa (+11.2%) and Asia (+0.7%).