Namibia exported goods worth N$247,7 million to Mauritus during the period 2015 to 2023, while on the demand side, goods amounting to N$710,6 million over the same period were sourced from Mauritius, the Namibia Statistics Agency said. Mauritus is a member of Southern African Development Community (SADC) just like Namibia.
During April, Namibia exported to the whole of Africa goods worth N$4,9 billion and imported goods of the same value of N$4,9 billion. Exports to Mauritius stood at N$3 million with fish topping the list of commodities exported with a contribution of 88%. Namibia imported goods amounting to N$9 million from Mauritius, with the import basket mainly made up of ‘edible products and preparations’ (25,5%) and mechanical handling equipment (25%).
The Namibia Statistics Agency said provides statistics on trade between Namibia and African countries as part of information on African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), the flagship projects of Agenda 2063: The ‘Africa We Want’ is a high ambition trade agreement, with a comprehensive scope that includes critical areas of Africa’s economy, such as digital trade and investment protection, amongst other areas.
The specific objective of the AfCFTA is to progressively eliminate tariffs and non-tariff barriers to trade in goods and liberalise trade in services, cooperate on investment, intellectual property rights and competition policy.
In terms of regional composition, Southern African Customs Union (SACU) emerged as the largest export market during the month of April, contributing 32,2% to total exports. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) ranked second with a market share of 22,2% while the European Union (EU) accounted for 19,6% in third place. SADC excluding Southern African Customs Union (SACU) absorbed 18,5% of Namibia’s total exports taking the fourth place and lastly Brazil, Russia, India, and China (BRIC) came in fifth place with 18% of total exports.
On the demand side, SACU maintained its position as the largest source of Namibia’s imports with a share of 35,5% of the total import bill followed by the OECD with a contribution of 21,7% while the EU came third in the list with a share of 13,6%. BRIC and Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) COMESA markets had shares of 11,3% and 3,9%, respectively.
Namibia’s trade by mode of transport revealed that in April, vast goods were exported via sea transport, accounting for 41,6% of total exports, followed by road transport with 30,1% and air transport with 28.3%. From the demand side, road transport was the most frequent mode of transport accounting for 48,9% of total imports followed by sea transport with 44,2% and air transport with 6,9%.
