How dependent is South Africa on Zimbabwe?

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%.

• Zimbabwe sells 7% of what the world exports of nickel matte; next come Indonesia (54.8%), Canada (10.1%) and Russia (6%). The rest of the world exported 13.3 times what South Africa buys from Zimbabwe.
• Zimbabwe sells 1.7% of what the world exports of coke; next come China (21.9%), Poland (17.3%) and Indonesia (14.8%). The rest of the world exported 68.3 times what South Africa buys from Zimbabwe.
• Zimbabwe sells 4.2% of what the world exports of chromium ore; next come Turkey (4.8%), Pakistan (1.5%) and Albania (1.2%). The rest of the world exported 20.5 times what South Africa buys from Zimbabwe.
• Zimbabwe sells 17.9% of what the world exports of raw hides; next come United States (24.7%), Australia (13.7%) and Germany (12.2%). The rest of the world exported 17.2 times what South Africa buys from Zimbabwe.
• Zimbabwe sells 2.1% of what the world exports of iron and nonalloy steel ingots; next come India (37.4%), United States (6.7%) and China (6.6%). The rest of the world exported 50.6 times what South Africa buys from Zimbabwe.
• Zimbabwe sells 0.23% of what the world exports of nickel ore; next come Philippines (39.6%), Zambia (10.8%) and Finland (8.2%). The rest of the world exported 531.7 times what South Africa buys from Zimbabwe.
• Zimbabwe sells 0.51% of what the world exports of coal tar; next come Poland (16.6%), Indonesia (15.2%) and United States (9.5%). The rest of the world exported 207.5 times what South Africa buys from Zimbabwe.

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

South Africa is Zimbabwe’s 3rd-largest customer, with 17.3% of its exports.

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