Infographics
South Africa’s trade with Zimbabwe
This Trade Update provides a snapshot of South Africa’s trading relationship with Zimbabwe. The aim is to give an idea of South Africa’s trade relations with the select partner, and the major products or sectors that South Africa is trading in.
All data is sourced from the United Nations (UN) International trade Centre (ITC) TradeMap database. The data analysed in this report is over a 10-year review period from 2007-2016, thus the review period referred in this paper will imply the period between 2007 and 2016.
Trade Performance
South Africa remains one of the most important trading partners for Zimbabwe; with Zimbabwe importing 40% of its total imports and exporting 75% of its total exports to South Africa.
Since 2007, South Africa has always maintained a trade surplus with Zimbabwe with the surplus widening over the review period mainly attributed to the economic instability experienced in Zimbabwe and the volatility of the South African Rand to the US dollar. In 2016, South Africa’s exports to Zimbabwe were almost US$ 2 billion while imports were a mere US$ 388 million. This represented 3% and 1% share of South Africa’s total exports and imports, respectively.
Despite Zimbabwe being a small player in South Africa’s global trade, the country in 2016 was ranked 5th and 7th most important trading partner with South Africa for exports and imports in Africa respectively.
This Trade Update provides a snapshot of South Africa’s trading relationship with Zimbabwe. The aim is to give an idea of South Africa’s trade relations with the select partner, and the major products or sectors that South Africa is trading in.
All data is sourced from the United Nations (UN) International trade Centre (ITC) TradeMap database. The data analysed in this report is over a 10-year review period from 2007-2016, thus the review period referred in this paper will imply the period between 2007 and 2016.
Trade Performance
South Africa remains one of the most important trading partners for Zimbabwe; with Zimbabwe importing 40% of its total imports and exporting 75% of its total exports to South Africa.
Since 2007, South Africa has always maintained a trade surplus with Zimbabwe with the surplus widening over the review period mainly attributed to the economic instability experienced in Zimbabwe and the volatility of the South African Rand to the US dollar. In 2016, South Africa’s exports to Zimbabwe were almost US$ 2 billion while imports were a mere US$ 388 million. This represented 3% and 1% share of South Africa’s total exports and imports, respectively.
Despite Zimbabwe being a small player in South Africa’s global trade, the country in 2016 was ranked 5th and 7th most important trading partner with South Africa for exports and imports in Africa respectively.