By: Staff Writer
Namibia has exported goods valued at N$8.3 billion and imported N$11.9 billion worth of goods, resulting in the country’s trade deficit of N$3.7 billion in July 2023.
The Namibian Merchandise Trade Statistics Bulletin for July 2023, issued by the Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA) on Tuesday, said the country’s export earnings decreased by 3.8% from N$8.6 billion recorded in the previous month to N$8.3 billion.
Additionally, exports decreased by 0.3% from N$8.3 billion registered in July 2022. The import value increased by 17.8% when compared to the value recorded in June 2023 and by 12.5% when compared to its value of N$10.6 billion recorded in July 2022.
Botswana emerged as the country’s largest export destination, with a share of 23.3% of all goods exported, followed by South Africa with a share of 19.6%.
Furthermore, China, Zambia and Spain formed part of Namibia’s top five export markets. The demand side saw South Africa maintaining her first position as the country’s largest source of imports, accounting for 37.8% of total imports into Namibia followed by Peru in the second position with 11.7% of the market share. Oman, the United States of America, and Saudi Arabia also formed part of Namibia’s top five import markets.
“The analysis of exports by commodities revealed that precious stones (diamonds) had the largest share of 30.5% of Namibia’s total exports ahead of uranium with 15.2% and Fish with a share of 13.7,” the bulletin stated.
Non-monetary gold accounted for 11.0% in fourth position and petroleum oils came in fifth position contributing 4.4%.
In terms of imports, Petroleum oils was the highest valued commodity with a share of 15.3% of total imports, followed by copper ores and concentrates with a share of 11.7% while motor vehicles for the transport of goods came third with a share of 4.0%.
Furthermore, civil engineering and contractors’ equipment and motor cars for the transport of persons contributed 3.4% and 2.7%, respectively.
In terms of regional composition, SACU emerged as the largest export market during the month of July 2023, contributing 42.9 percent to total exports. BRIC ranked second with a market share of 17.5% while SADC, exclunding SACU and COMESA, accounted for 15.3% and 14.1%, respectively.
The EU absorbed 11.3% of Namibia’s total exports.
On the demand side, SACU maintained its position as the largest source of Namibia’s imports with a share of 38.2% of 25 the total import bill followed by the BRIC market with a contribution of 11.9% while the EU came third in the list with a share of 11.2%. COMESA and EFTA markets had a share of 1.3% and 1.1%, respectively.
Namibia’s trade by mode of transport revealed that in July 2023, vast goods were exported via air transport, accounting for 42.3% of total exports, followed by sea transport with 31.7% and road transport with 26.1%.
From the demand side, road transport was the most frequent mode of transport accounting for 48.0% of total imports followed by sea transport with 47.8% and air transport with 4.2%.
On the African Continental Free Trade Area, the focus country was Mauritius for the month under review, and Namibia was the net importer.
“Finally, an analysis on the importation and exportation of Thermionic valves and tubes as the commodity of the month revealed that in July 2023, Namibia imported Thermionic valves and tubes valued at N$176.0 million mainly from China. Imports of the commodity averaged monthly at N$133.4 million over the period July 2022– July 2023,” the bulletin concluded.
