China is by far South Africa’s biggest supplier of finished goods – with the country importing $22 billion worth of Chinese goods in 2023.
Although slightly down from the $24bn Chinese imports in 2022, it nearly eclipses the next three major suppliers of imports combined – Germany ($10bn), India ($8bn) and the USA ($7bn), according to UN Comtrade figures.
Chinese imports have been growing steadily for the past decade, with the biggest increments being nearly $5bn from $15bn in 2020 to $21bn in 2021, and by $3bn to $24bn in 2022.
Indian imports have shown the second-biggest growth, almost doubling from $3.5bn in 2020 to $8bn in 2023.
In 2023, the main imports from China were electrical and electronic equipment ($7.7bn), machinery ($4bn), vehicles ($1bn) and iron and steel ($623 million).
The main imports from India were mineral fuels and oils ($2.6bn), vehicles ($1.6bn), pharmaceutical products ($600m) and machinery ($ 4 87 m).
Vehicles and machinery were top imports from the USA, at $1.3bn each, followed by mineral fuels ($1bn), and electrical and electronic equipment ($600m)
- Read the full article in our Freight Features edition on "SA Import Trade".
