Justicia Shipena
As winter sets in and households tighten their budgets, Namibia’s trade data shows a sharp imbalance in the coffee sector.
In April 2025, the country imported coffee worth N$12.4 million, mainly from South Africa and Switzerland.
This is revealed in the latest Namibia international merchandise trade statistics bulletin by the Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA).
Over the same period, the NSA revealed that the country exported only N$14,629 worth of coffee to Angola and South Africa.
This gap highlights the country’s reliance on foreign coffee and raises questions about opportunities in domestic processing and value addition.
This comes as Namibia recorded a trade deficit of N$1.9 billion in April 2025.
NSA Statistician-General, Alex Shimuafeni, said in the report that this is an improvement from the N$2.7 billion deficit in March.
In the same period under review, exports rose by 9.1% to N$11.0 billion, while imports increased slightly by 1.0% to N$12.9 billion.
“The country’s export performance was supported by uranium, non-monetary gold, and fish,” the NSA stated.
Uranium remained the top export, making up 26.0% of total exports, mostly shipped to China. Non-monetary gold followed at 15.4% and fish at 11.5%.
On the import side, petroleum oils led the list with a 22.4% share, followed by motor vehicles, nickel ores, and passenger cars.
The NSA noted that petroleum oils emerged as the largest contributor to the country’s trade deficit, having recorded a deficit of N$2.5 billion.
The country also recorded trade surpluses with China at N$2.0 billion and Botswana at N$1.0 billion.
However, it faced deficits with South Africa and India, both at N$2.1 billion and N$2.0 billion, respectively.
Between January and April 2025, the country’s exports reached N$41.9 billion, up from N$35.4 billion in the same period last year.
Meanwhile, imports totalled N$51.2 billion, rising from N$49.1 billion last year.
The NSA also reported a food trade surplus of N$548 million, driven mainly by fish exports.
At the same time, beverage imports exceeded exports, leading to a deficit of N$188 million.
