WINDHOEK, Sept. 10 — Namibia’s trade composition by partner illustrated that South Africa emerged as Namibia’s largest market for both exports and imports in July 2021, according to trade statistics released Thursday by the Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA).
South Africa emerged as the country’s largest export destination, with a share of 20.1 percent of all goods exported followed by Spain with a share of 15.1 percent, NSA statistician general Alex Shimuafeni said, adding that China, Zambia, and the Netherlands formed part of Namibia’s top five export markets.
Shimuafeni said the composition of the export basket mainly comprised minerals such as copper, precious stones (diamonds), non-monetary gold as well as ores and concentrates of base metals.
“As usual, fish remained the only non-mineral product among the top five exports. On the other hand, the import basket consisted mainly of copper, petroleum oils, ores of precious metals, precious stones, and medicaments,” he added.
Meanwhile, the demand side saw South Africa maintaining its first position as the country’s largest source of imports, accounting for 44.4 percent of total imports into Namibia followed by Zambia in the second position with 8.6 percent of the market share. The Democratic Republic of the Congo, Bulgaria, and China also formed part of Namibia’s top five sources of imports.
The July 2021 exports decreased by 28 percent year on year and 49 percent month on month, whereas imports decreased by 23 percent year on year and 21 percent month on month.
– Xinhua
