Chamwe Kaira
Namibia recorded a trade deficit of N$2.9 billion in October, an improvement from the N$3.4 billion shortfall in September.
Statistician general and chief executive officer of the Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA) Alex Shimuafeni said the latest figures show a smaller gap between exports and imports. Year-on-year, the deficit stood at N$7.2 billion.
China was Namibia’s largest export market in October, while South Africa remained the main source of imports. In September, South Africa had been the top market for both exports and imports.
Most exports in October came from the mining sector. Uranium, non-monetary gold, diamonds, and copper ores dominated the export basket. Fish was the only top export not linked to mining. Re-exports rose sharply, increasing by 52.7% month-on-month and 30.4% year-on-year. These re-exports included copper and nickel ores, petroleum oils, diamonds and fertilisers. Imports were mostly petroleum oils, fertilisers, diamonds, medicaments and commercial motor vehicles.
Shimuafeni said Namibia exported more food than it imported, ending the month with a food trade surplus of N$89 million. However, the country imported more beverages than it exported, resulting in a deficit of N$552 million.
Pesticides were highlighted as the commodity of the month. Namibia imported pesticides worth N$48 million, mainly from South Africa and Spain, while exporting N$57 393 worth of pesticides to Angola and Panama.
Most exports moved by sea, which carried 56% of export value, followed by air transport at 25.1% and road transport at 18.9%. On the import side, road transport dominated with 56.7% of import value, followed by sea at 35.2% and air at 8%.
SACU was Namibia’s largest export market in October with a 31.6% share, followed by BRIC+ at 30% and the OECD at 25.9%. The EU accounted for 15.2%, and SADC, excluding SACU, accounted for 10.3%. SACU was also the leading source of imports at 37.3%. BRIC+ supplied 24.2% of imports, the OECD 13.1%, the EU 8.3% and COMESA 6.6%.
Caption
Namibia imported pesticides worth N$48 million in October.
- Photo: Contributed
