Trade deficit swells in August

Data released by the South African Revenue Service (SARS) on Wednesday showed that the country’s trade deficit increased to R9.95-billion in August from R1.11-billion in July.

The month of July trade balance was revised downwards by R720-million from the previous month’s preliminary deficit of R400-million to a revised deficit of R1.11-billion.

However‚ the cumulative deficit for 2015 is R36.27-billion compared to R69.94-billion in 2014.

SARS figures showed that the R9.95-billion deficit for August was due to exports of R87.63-billion and imports of R97.58-billion - this figure includes trade data with Botswana‚ Lesotho‚ Namibia and Swaziland (BLNS).

The trade data‚ excluding BLNS‚ for August recorded a trade deficit of R19.07-billion. This is as a result of exports of R75.93-billion and imports of R95-billion.

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Exports decreased from July to August by R5.83-billion (7.1%) and imports increased from July to August by R3.31-billion (3.6%).

Exports of mineral products‚ excluding BLNS‚ during the same period dropped by R4.205-billion (-20.1%); base metals exports dropped by R2.464-billion (-20%); and precious metals and stones exports were up by R1.12-billion (7.3%).

Vehicle and transport equipment exports were up by R382-million (3.4%) and the exports of woods and ‘articles thereof’ were up by R176-million (41.2%).

Data‚ excluding BLNS‚ show that imports of vehicles and transport equipment were up by R2.019-billion (22%); mineral product imports increase by R1.760-billion (12.2%); chemical products up R1.239-billion (12.9%); equipment components showed a R743-million (-9.4%) slide and the imports of base metals dropped by R677-million (-12.9%).

The world zone results from July to August were:

Africa: Exports: R26.195-billion – this is a decrease of R 0.28-billion from July 2015 Imports: R10.865-billion – this is an increase of R1.106-billion from July 2015 Trade surplus: R15.330-billion – this is a 6.9% decrease in comparison to the R16.464-billion surplus recorded in July 2015.

America: Exports: R8.015-billion – this is a decrease of R1.099-billion from July 2015 Imports: R10.947-billion – this is an increase of R 941-million from July 2015 Trade deficit: R2.932-billion – this is an increase in comparison to the R892-million deficit recorded in July 2015.

Asia: Exports: R24.773-billion – this is a decrease of R3.111-billion from July 2015 Imports: R43.883-billion – this is an increase of R1.599-billion from July 2015 Trade deficit: R19.110-billion – this is a 32.7% increase in comparison to the R14.399-billion deficit recorded in July 2015.

Europe: Exports: R21.371-billion – this is a decrease of R720-million from July 2015 Imports: R30.502-billion – this is a decrease of R332-million from July 2015 Trade deficit: R9.131-billion – this is a 4.4% increase in comparison to the R8.743-billion deficit recorded in July 2015.

Oceania: Exports: R1.164-billion – this is a decrease of R162million from July 2015 Imports: R1.3-billion – this is an increase of R203-million from July 2015 Trade deficit: R135-million – this is a deterioration compared to the R229-million surplus recorded in July 2015.