WINDHOEK, March 6 — China emerged as the leading market for Namibian exports in January, while South Africa remained the primary source of imports for the southern African nation, the Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA) said Tuesday. Statistician-General Alex Shimuafeni said Namibia experienced trade surpluses with China, amounting to 2.8 billion Namibia dollars (about 147 million U.S. dollars), followed by Botswana with a surplus of 1.7 billion Namibia dollars, and Canada, which recorded a surplus of 782 million Namibia dollars. Conversely, trade deficits were recorded with South Africa, Peru and Bulgaria, each totaling 1.5 billion Namibia dollars. According to the statement, in January 2024, Namibia’s export earnings increased 9.4 percent from 10.9 billion Namibia dollars in December 2023 to 12 billion Namibia dollars, while the import bill for the same month rose 16.3 percent, resulting in a widened trade deficit of 1.8 billion Namibia dollars compared to the previous month’s deficit of 885 million Namibia dollars. The composition of Namibia’s export basket for January 2024 was largely dominated by minerals, including uranium, precious stones (diamonds), non-monetary gold, and petroleum oils, Shimuafeni said, adding that fish remained the only non-mineral product within the top five exported items. “The mining and quarrying industry emerged as the largest exporter, contributing goods that accounted for 53 percent of total exports, marking an increase of 1.6 billion Namibia dollars compared to the previous month,” he said. Overall, during January 2024, Namibia recorded a trade deficit of 1.8 billion Namibia dollars, continuing a trend of deficits observed between January 2023 and January 2024, recording an average trade deficit of 2.6 billion Namibia dollars over this period. During the same period, reexports decreased 6.6 percent month-on-month and 2.8 percent year-on-year, with the primary items being copper and articles of copper, petroleum oils, and civil engineering and contractors’ equipment. On the import side, Namibia’s main imports included copper ores and concentrates, petroleum oils, inorganic chemical elements, civil engineering, and contractors’ equipment, and motor vehicles for the transportation of goods.
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