Botswana ‘s exports for the month of July surpassed the value of imports, thus meaning the country recored a trade surplus for the month according to Statistics Botswana’ s International Merchandise Trade data released yesterday.
This is against the backdrop of a series of trade deficits inthe preceeding months since January this year.
Imports were valued at P7. 232 billion during the month of July 2021, reflecting a decline of 6.6 percent from the revised June 2021 value of P7. 739 billion.
Total exports during the same month amounted to P7.605 billion, showing an increase of 6.1 percent over the revised June 2021 value of P7.170 billion.
A trade surplus of P373.2 million was recorded in July 2021. This follows a revised trade deficit of P568.7 million for June 2021.
The leading Import commodity groups were Diamonds; Fuel; Food, Beverages & Tobacco; and Machinery & Electrical Equipment; with contributions of 29.1 percent, 21.8 percent, 11.6 percent and 10.7 percent respectively.
During the month under review, Diamonds, Machinery & Electrical Equipment and Salt & Soda Ash contributed 91.2 percent, 2.2 percent and 1.3 percent to total exports, respectively.
In July 2021, imports from SACU contributed 62.7 percent to total imports, while those from the EU and Asia accounted for 18.9 percent and 11.4 percent, respectively.
Imports from South Africa accounted for 60.1 percent of total imports. Belgium, India and the UAE provided imports representing 17.2 percent, 4.7 percent and 2.5 percent,respectively.
During the current month, exports destined to Asia, the EU and SACU accounted for 65.2 percent, 21.6 percent and 10.4 percent of the monthly total, respectively.
The UAE, Belgium and India received exports representing 26.3 percent, 21.5 percent and 18.7 percent of the monthly total, respectively.
South Africa received 9.8 percent while Israel and Hong Kong each received, 6.3 percent of total exports.
Air transport accounted for 92.0 percent of total exports during the reference period, while exports by Road and Rail transport represented 7.8 percent and 0.2 percent respectively.
Imports by Road accounted for 63.5 percent whereas those entering the country by Rail and Air represented 22.7 percent and 13.8 percent, respectively.