The top exports from South Africa in terms of value, are gold (around $20B), diamonds (around $9B), platinum (around $7B), coal (over $6B) and iron ore (over $5B). In terms of the country of export, the main countries are China (around $10B), United States ($8B), the UK (around $8B), India ($7B) and Hong Kong ($8B).

Geographically, South Africa sits on the borders of Lesotho, Botswana, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Namibia and Swaziland. South Africa is the world’s third largest exporter of coal and in terms of production, South Africa sits as one of the main producers of gold; also being the largest producer of manganese, chrome, vanadium, platinum and vermiculite. It also ranks second in terms of production with commodities such as palladium, rutile and vermiculite. They also export fruits, corn, wool and sugar in the large part. The export value in South Africa averaged around 14000 ZAR Million from 1957 until 2015, reaching a height of around 94000 ZAR Million at the end of 2015 and a low of around 55 ZAR Million at the end of 1958.

Chart Showing GDP Growth Compared to rest of world

South Africa ranks as the thirty-sixth largest export economy in the world and the fourty-fifth most complex economy as rated by the Economic Complexity Index (ECI). South Africa exports around $110B and imports around $108B a year, which results in a small positive trade balance of around $2B. The GDP of South Africa is around $360B and the GDP per capita is around $12k. Imports into South Africa averaged around 14500 ZAR Million from around 1957 until 2015, which reached a height of around 110000 ZAR Million at the end of 2014 with a record low of around 65 ZAR Million at the end of 1961.

The main imports are crude petroleum (around $14B), cars (over $5B), gold ($5.5B) and computers ($2.2B). The main origins of import are China (around $16B), Germany (over $9B), Saudi Arabia (over $8B), the United States (over $6.5B) and India (around $5.3B). The main South African imports are fuel (around 25%), boilers, nuclear reactors, machinery (around 15%), vehicle parts (around 10%), telephone sets (around 3%), pharmaceuticals (2%), and vegetables (2%)