By: Nghiinomenwa-vali Hangala
Cumulatively, from January to the end of October 2025, Namibia has spent N$125.2 billion on goods from outside to meet local demands. At the same time, the country has cumulatively sold N$104.9 billion worth of goods to external markets.
This is according to the country’s trade statistics as compiled by the Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA).
The import and export statistics highlight various insights in terms of the country’s manufacturing base and connectedness to the global market. According to NSA insights, the country’s imports are dominated by manufactured/ready-to-consume products, highlighting the country’s small manufacturing sector.
“The demand side displays the country’s reliance on foreign manufactured goods after recording huge import flows of products from this industry,” NSA researchers wrote.
At the same time, they cautioned that this reliance poses risks due to unpredictable price volatility of minerals on the global market. Currently, diamonds are facing a low price issue, which has affected the country’s revenue collection.
October 2025 showed that of the N$16.1 billion import bill, N$12.4 billion was spent on products from the manufacturing industry. While in terms of export, the basket is dominated by minerals, a trend the country has shown for several years.
“The top 10 traded commodities highlight the country’s dependence on mineral exports, with uranium, non-monetary gold, and diamonds emerging as top export revenue sources,” the NSA stated.
The statistics agency also added that the country’s export composition suggests a need for increased industrialisation, particularly in the manufacturing sector, and export diversification to reduce import dependency while enhancing economic resilience.
In the month of October 2025, of the N$13.2 billion exported, N$7.3 billion came from the mining sector, contributing a 55.6 percent share of the country’s total export revenue.
By the end of the reviewed period, Namibia had exported goods to 106 markets and imported goods from 160 markets across the world. NSA indicated that the increase in trading partners is well aligned with the country’s export and import market diversification agenda.
Another noted vulnerability was the domination of single commodities. In the month of October 2025, uranium export accounted for 33.2 percent of total exports, largely absorbed by China and France. Non-monetary gold emerged as the second-most exported commodity, accounting for 15.6 percent of total exports, destined for South Africa, for that particular month.
The statistics also indicate that Namibia continues to import more fertiliser for local consumption as well as for regional distribution. For this, the country has spent almost a billion (N$986 million) in the month of October 2025, becoming the most imported product after fuel.
The fertilisers were mostly sourced from Morocco and Oman.
Namibia’s trade strategy is anchored in its participation in key Free Trade Agreements (FTAs), such as the Southern African Development Community protocol on trade, the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the European Union (EU) and the United Kingdom (UK), as well as the Southern African Customs Union (SACU), among others.
Through these agreements, Namibia benefits from reciprocal preferential access to regional and global markets, subsequently allowing preferential treatment on certain commodities in these markets.
