South Africa’s merchandise export performance bounced back in the third quarter of 2020, growing by 9.2% (year-on-year) and 40.2% from the previous quarter amounting to R388 billion, an impressive improvement from the historic slump experienced in the second quarter of 2020 as a result of the lockdown. The third quarter…

The second quarter of 2020 saw a strong decline in exports, combined with an even stronger slump in imports as international trade slowed down because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Several sectors, however, particularly agriculture and parts of mining, were able to increase exports over the quarter. Stringent COVID-19 containment measures…

In the first quarter of 2020, which represents the period before widespread global lockdowns were implemented due to the COVID-19 crisis, South Africa continued with a positive trade balance. A trade surplus of R34.7 billion in constant rand was recorded in Q1 2020, up by 42% from the previous quarter.…

South Africa’s trade balance remained positive for the third consecutive quarter, recording a surplus of R23.2 billion in constant rand in Q4 2019 from R6 billion in the previous quarter. The upswing in the trade balance came about as the value of merchandise imports sharply declined by 5.6% to R319…