How dependent is South Africa on Eswatini?

A product has a dominant supplier when a single country sells more than 50% of what is bought of it; we flag it separately above 75%.

• Eswatini sells 1.8% of what the world exports of fragrance mixtures; next come Ireland (35.9%), France (8.2%) and United States (8.2%). The rest of the world exported 94.7 times what South Africa buys from Eswatini.
• Eswatini sells 0.82% of what the world exports of cane and beet sugar; next come Brazil (47.2%), Thailand (6.2%) and India (4.9%). The rest of the world exported 166.1 times what South Africa buys from Eswatini.
• Eswatini sells 0.22% of what the world exports of sawn wood; next come Canada (18%), Russia (9.7%) and Sweden (9.4%). The rest of the world exported 502.3 times what South Africa buys from Eswatini.
• Eswatini sells 0.27% of what the world exports of firewood and wood chips; next come Vietnam (28%), United States (18%) and Australia (7%). The rest of the world exported 369.5 times what South Africa buys from Eswatini.
• Eswatini sells 0.33% of what the world exports of packing sacks and bags; next come China (24.8%), India (22.6%) and Vietnam (10.4%). The rest of the world exported 300.9 times what South Africa buys from Eswatini.
• Eswatini sells 0.3% of what the world exports of jams, jellies and fruit purees; next come France (12.6%), Italy (7.6%) and Turkey (7.2%). The rest of the world exported 343.2 times what South Africa buys from Eswatini.
• Eswatini sells 0.07% of what the world exports of logs; next come New Zealand (16.8%), United States (13.9%) and Germany (7.1%). The rest of the world exported 1,753.6 times what South Africa buys from Eswatini.
• Eswatini sells 0.06% of what the world exports of particle board and OSB; next come Canada (22.2%), Germany (7.5%) and Austria (6.8%). The rest of the world exported 1,657.1 times what South Africa buys from Eswatini.
• Eswatini sells 0.32% of what the world exports of zippers; next come China (47.2%), Taiwan (8.3%) and Japan (7.2%). The rest of the world exported 528.3 times what South Africa buys from Eswatini.
• Eswatini sells 0.33% of what the world exports of men's underwear and pajamas; next come China (32%), Bangladesh (9.2%) and India (8.4%). The rest of the world exported 318.8 times what South Africa buys from Eswatini.

Exports from the rest of the world already have buyers; the figure shows scale, not availability.

South Africa is Eswatini’s 1st-largest customer, with 68.5% of its exports.

• Trade between South Africa and Eswatini
• Who does South Africa rely on?
• Who does Eswatini rely on?
• Dependence of South Africa on China
• Dependence of South Africa on Tanzania
• Dependence of South Africa on Zimbabwe
• Dependence of South Africa on Mozambique
• Dependence of South Africa on Australia
• Trade profile of South Africa
• Trade profile of Eswatini
• All countries

Sources and licenses

• CEPII BACI · Licence Ouverte Etalab 2.0
• Natural Earth · Public domain

Methodology

The data come from CEPII BACI (Etalab 2.0 licence), which reconciles what the exporting and the importing country report, in current USD, FOB. Data up to 2024.

Dependence is the share of a country’s imports (or exports) that each partner accounts for. It does not measure whether a product has a substitute or how much it would cost to change supplier.

The concentration index (HHI) adds up the square of each partner’s share, in percent: it runs from 0 to 10,000. Its equivalent is 10,000 ÷ HHI, the number of partners of the same size that would give that value.

Products are HS4 headings of the 1992 nomenclature (some combine different goods), with a floor of $1 million per product and country.

The EU is the 27 current members in every year; the United Kingdom is outside the EU throughout the series.

Re-exports: countries that act as redistribution hubs carry their notice and the figures are not corrected.