The South African Revenue Service (SARS) has released trade statistics for April 2015 that recorded a trade deficit of R2.51 billion. This figure includes trade data with Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia and Swaziland (BLNS).

Including BLNS

The R2.51 billion deficit for April 2015 is due to exports of R84.01 billion and imports of R86.53 billion. Exports decreased from March 2015 to April 2015 by R6.84 billion (7.5%) and imports decreased from March 2015 to April 2015 by R4.34 billion (4.8%). The cumulative deficit for 2015 is R35.83 billion compared to R39.82 billion in 2014.

Trade highlights by category

The month-on-month export movements:

The month-on-month import movements:

Trade highlights by world zone

The world zone results from March 2015 to April 2015 are given below.

Africa:

Exports: R25 538 million – this is a decrease of R 512 million from March 2015
Imports: R8 205 million – this is a decrease of R2 894 million from March 2015
Trade surplus: R17 333 million
This is a 15.9% increase in comparison to the R14 950 million surplus recorded in March 2015

America:

Exports: R8 484 million – this is a decrease of R 609 million from March 2015
Imports: R8 483 million – this is a decrease of R1 933 million from March 2015
Trade surplus: R 1 million
This is an improvement in comparison to the R1 323 million deficit recorded in March 2015

Asia:

Exports: R23 897 million – this is a decrease of R2 873 million from March 2015
Imports: R39 360 million – this is an increase of R 139 million from March 2015
Trade deficit: R15 463 million 
This is a 24.2% increase in comparison to the R12 451 million deficit recorded in March

Europe:

Exports: R18 589 million – this is a decrease of R2 910 million from March 2015
Imports: R29 026 million – this is an increase of R 129 million from March 2015
Trade deficit: R10 438 million
This is a 41.1% increase in comparison to the R7 398 million deficit recorded in March 2015

Oceania:

Exports: R 982 million – this is a decrease of R 109 million from March 2015
Imports: R1 254 million – this is an increase of R 200 million from March 2015
Trade deficit: R 272 million
This is a decrease compared to the R 37 million surplus recorded in March 2015

Excluding BLNS

The trade data excluding BLNS for April 2015 recorded a trade deficit of R11.11 billion. This is a result of exports of R73.26 billion and imports of R84.37 billion. Exports decreased from March 2015 to April 2015 by R5.75 billion (7.3%) and imports decreased from March 2015 to April 2015 by R3.70 billion (4.2%). The cumulative deficit for 2015 is R68.94 billion compared to R72.42 billion in 2014.

Trade highlights by category

The month-on-month export movements:

The month-on-month import movements:

Trade highlights by world zone

The world zone results from March 2015 to April 2015 are given below.

Africa:

BLNS (only)

Trade statistics with the BLNS for April 2015 recorded a trade surplus of R8.60 billion.

The surplus is a result of exports of R10.75 billion and imports of R2.15 billion. Exports decreased from March 2015 to April 2015 by R1.09 billion (9.2%) and imports decreased from March 2015 to April 2015 by R0.63 billion (22.7%). The cumulative surplus for 2015 is R33.11 billion compared to R32.60 billion in 2014.

Trade Highlights by Category

The month-on-month export movements:

The month-on-month import movements: