Uranium was Namibia’s largest export commodity during May 2023, accounting for 21.5 percent of total exports and was destined to China and Canada, the Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA) has said.
In a trade bulletin released last week, the agency also noted that precious stones (diamonds) were mostly destined to Botswana which came second in the list accounting for 21.1 percent of the total exports (of which 15.7 percent were domestic exports while 5.4 percent were re-exports).
Fish took the third position in the list, contributing 12.0 percent, (whereby 11.9 percent of this was domestic exports and 0.1 percent re-exports). Fish was mainly destined for Spain, Zambia, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Non-monetary gold and ‘Copper and articles of copper’ took the fourth and fifth positions accounting for 9.8 percent and 5.5 percent of the country’s export bill, respectively.
“Non-monetary gold was solely a domestic export and was predominantly destined to South Africa whereas ‘Copper and articles of copper’ was mainly a re-export and it was mostly destined for Belgium and the Netherlands. The top five export commodities jointly accounted for 69.9 percent of total exports,” the agency said.
The agency also added that May 2023 saw Namibia’s top five export markets accounting for 69.7 percent of total exports. Botswana appeared in first position as Namibia’s main export destination accounting for 18.9 percent of exports, China came second with a share of 18.1 percent and South Africa in third position with a share of 17.9 percent. Canada (7.5%) and Zambia (7.2%) came in fourth and fifth positions, respectively.
During May 2023, Namibia’s export earnings increased by 22.4 percent from N$7.6 billion recorded in the previous month to N$9.3 billion. Moreover, the import bill for the month under review increased by 35.8 when compared to N$8.9 billion recorded the previous month. This resulted in a trade deficit of N$2.8 billion, compared to N$1.3 billion recorded in April 2023.
Namibia’s exports continue to be on an upward trajectory recording N$43.0 billion for the first five months of 2023, higher when compared to N$36.3 billion registered during the same period of 2022.
On the import side, cumulative trade for the first five months amounted to N$52.7 billion, an increase of N$ 440 million when compared to the same period of the previous year.
SACU was the most dominant export destination for Namibia’s goods during the month under review with a share of 36.8 percent of total exports. OECD and BRIC followed in second and third position with 26.4 percent and 18.3 percent of Namibia’s total exports, respectively. The EU and SADC excl. SACU took the fourth and fifth positions accounting for 15.7 percent and 13.4 percent of the total exports.
“Exports to SACU comprised mainly of Precious stones (diamonds), Non-monetary gold and Petroleum oils whereas Uranium, Fish and ‘Copper and articles of copper’ were destined to the OECD. The export basket to BRIC was mainly made up of Uranium and ‘Ores and concentrates of base metals’, while Fish, ‘Copper and articles of copper’ and Precious stones (diamonds) were destined for the EU region. The export basket to SADC excl. SACU mostly comprised of Fish, Motor vehicles for the transportation of goods and ‘Iron and steel bars’, noted the agency.
Imports
The top five commodities imported into Namibia jointly accounted for 46.0 percent of total imports. Petroleum oils topped the list of imported goods for the month of May 2023, with a share of 24.2 percent of total import value. In second and third position was ‘Copper ores and concentrates’ and Motor vehicles for the transportation of goods with shares of 13.9 percent and 4.2 percent, respectively. ‘Civil engineering and contractors equipment’ and Motor cars for transportation of persons were ranked fourth and fifth in the list accounting for 1.9 percent and 1.8 percent of total imports, respectively.
Petroleum oils were mostly sourced from India, Saudi Arabia, and Oman, while Copper ores and concentrates were mainly sourced from Peru and Switzerland. Motor vehicles for the transportation of goods were mainly sourced from South Africa and China whereas ‘Civil engineering and contractors’ equipment’ were mostly imported from China, South Africa and Germany. Lastly, Motor car for transportation of persons were mainly obtained from South Africa, Japan and India.
During the month of May 2023, Namibia imported ‘sugars, molasses and honey’ valued at N$124.9 million which was mostly sourced from South Africa. Over the entire period (May 2022 to May 2023), the value of ‘sugars, molasses and honey’ imported averaged N$141.5 million with the largest value of N$313.9 million recorded in August 2022 and the lowest value of N$44.1 million recorded in June 2022. On the supply side, during May 2023, Namibia exported ‘sugars, molasses and honey’ valued at N$9.8 million of which N$9.7 million was re-exports and was mostly destined to Zimbabwe, whereas N$0.1 million worth of ‘sugars, molasses and honey’ was domestic exports and was destined to Angola.