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The Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA) shows that the country’s exports stood at N$7.8 billion in September while imports amounted to N$11.1 billion. The country recorded a trade deficit of N$3.3 billion during September 2023 compared to N$4.9 billion and N$2.6 billion recorded in August 2023 and September 2022.
Namibia’s export earnings recorded an increase of 5.3% to N$7.8 billion from N$7.4 billion recorded in August 2023. The month under review decreased to 9.6% compared to N$12.3 billion recorded during the preceding month. This comes as Namibia’s exports continue to be on an upward trajectory, recording N$74.9 billion for the first nine months of 2023, higher when compared to N$70.0 billion registered during the same period of 2022. On the import side, cumulative trade for the first nine months amounted to N$98.1 billion, an increase of N$ 2.9 billion when compared to the same period of the previous year.
In September 2023, the manufacturing industry emerged as the industry with the largest exported goods valued at N$3.8 billion, absorbing 48.6% of total exports, products from the industry decreased by N$894 million when compared to the previous month. Products from the mining and quarrying industry came in second position absorbing 44.3% of the export bill in September 2023. Exported goods from this industry increased by N$1.3 billion month-on-month.
NSA noted that the demand side was largely dominated by products from the manufacturing industry, with an import bill of N$7.9 billion recorded in September 2023, decreasing by 10.7% from N$8.9 billion recorded the previous month. In second position was the mining and quarrying industry which stood at N$2.8 billion, resulting in a decrease of N$338 million during September 2023.
South Africa emerged as Namibia’s largest export destination at 20.6%, followed by Botswana at 19.2%. In terms of imports, South Africa leads with 40.2%, and the United Arab Emirates follows at 12.3%. China, Zambia, and the UAE are prominent export markets, while China, India, and the USA are among the top import sources. Namibia’s export analysis highlights diamonds as the leading commodity, constituting 22.4% of total exports, followed by uranium at 17.1% and fish at 12.1%. Non-monetary gold holds the fourth position at 10.6%, while petroleum oils rank fifth at 6.3%” the trade bulletin notes.
On the import side, petroleum oils dominate at 23.7%, with inorganic chemical elements and motor vehicles for goods transportation following at 3.9% and 3.2%, respectively. Motor cars for passenger transportation and civil engineering and contractors’ equipment contribute 2.4% and 2.3%, respectively.
Read Also:
https://trendsnafrica.com/namibian-trade-deficit-widens-to-n4-9-billion/
https://trendsnafrica.com/namibian-manufacturing-and-mining-industries-trade-surge-in-may/
Namibia’s trade by mode of transport revealed that in September 2023, vast goods were exported via air transport, accounting for 34.9% of total exports, followed by sea transport with 34.2% and road transport with 30.9%. From the demand side, road transport was the most frequent mode of transport accounting for 58.4% of total imports followed by sea transport with 38.6% and air transport with 2.9%.
