Namibia’s trade deficit with the world stood at N$3.3 billion in November, up from the revised deficit of N$6.9 billion recorded in October 2021, latest government figures show.
Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA) Statistician General & CEO, Alex Shimuafeni, said the N$3.3 billion figure was, however, higher compared to N$2.9 billion witnessed in November 2020.
“Namibia’s exports earnings stood at N$ 8.8 billion (increase by 1.3% on a monthly basis) while the imports bill amounted to N$12.1 billion (down by 22.3% on a monthly basis). This resulted in a trade deficit of N$3.3 billion, which is a significant improvement from the revised trade deficit of N$6.9 billion recorded in October 2021,” he said.
In November 2021, manufacturing products emerged as the largest exported goods with a value of N$4.5 billion, representing 51.7% of total exports. Export of products from the manufacturing industry decreased by N$704 million from N$5.2 billion recorded in October 2021.
The Mining and quarrying industry came in second place with exports valued at N$3.5 billion in November 2021. Export of products from this industry increased by N$547million from N$3nbillion recorded in October 2021.
The latest figures comes at a time when Namibia’s total merchandise trade amounted to N$20.9 billion in the period under review, a decline of 13.8% when compared to the levels of N$24.2 billion recorded in October 2021 and an increase of 5.5% when compared to the levels of N$19.8 billion recorded in November 2020.
China emerged as Namibia’s largest market for exports during the period under review, whereas South Africa maintained her position as the largest source market for the country.
“The composition of the export basket for the month of November 2021 was mainly composed of minerals such as Copper, Uranium, Precious stones (diamonds) as well as non-monetary gold. Fish continued to be the only non-mineral commodity within the top five products exported. On the other hand, the import basket was mainly comprised of Copper, Petroleum oils, precious stones (diamonds), Motor vehicles for transport of goods as well as Copper ores and concentrates,” Shimuafeni said.
For the month of November 2021, re-exports declined by 15.6% month-on-month and 12.7%year-on-year.
“There-exports basket mainly consisted of Copper, which accounted for 51.8% mainly sourced from Zambia and DRC,” he said.
Analysis for the commodity of the month for November 2021 focused on import of sanitary towels (pads) and related articles, where Namibia imported sanitary towels and related articles valued at N$33.5 million in November 2021 mostly supplied by South Africa (93.4%).
Over the entire period, import value of sanitary products averaged N$32.8 million a month with the largest import value of N$39.6 million reflected in August 2021 and the lowest value of N$21.1 million recorded in January 2021.
According to the NSA, Namibia sourced 93.4% of sanitary products from South Africa.
Namibia’s cumulative total trade (import +export) for the period of January to November 2021 stood at N$200.3 billion compared to N$178.1 billion recorded during the same period of last year.
