Summary
- Share of its imports
- 39.2%
- Value imported
- $3.8billion
- Rank among its suppliers
- 1st
- Products where it sells over 50%
- 196
- Products where it sells over 75%
- 110
- Dominated value
- $2.1billion
- Share of total imports
- 22.4%
Trend
Trend in shares
South Africa went from 41.4% to 39.2% of what Zimbabwe buys
Share (%)
- South Africa 39.2%
Source: CEPII BACI
Show the numbers
| Year | Value (USD millions) | Share | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | 1,123 | 41.4% | 1 |
| 1996 | 1,247 | 55.8% | 1 |
| 1997 | 1,030 | 49.5% | 1 |
| 1998 | 875 | 49.4% | 1 |
| 1999 | 838 | 54.9% | 1 |
| 2000 | 950 | 44.7% | 1 |
| 2001 | 696 | 44.7% | 1 |
| 2002 | 1,063 | 48.4% | 1 |
| 2003 | 712 | 48.4% | 1 |
| 2004 | 1,276 | 45.7% | 1 |
| 2005 | 1,074 | 43.1% | 1 |
| 2006 | 1,062 | 45.9% | 1 |
| 2007 | 1,351 | 44.6% | 1 |
| 2008 | 1,105 | 51.8% | 1 |
| 2009 | 4,334 | 77.2% | 1 |
| 2010 | 2,434 | 44.5% | 1 |
| 2011 | 2,648 | 41.7% | 1 |
| 2012 | 2,858 | 39.8% | 1 |
| 2013 | 2,494 | 38.7% | 1 |
| 2014 | 2,526 | 40.5% | 1 |
| 2015 | 2,343 | 37.5% | 1 |
| 2016 | 2,181 | 39.7% | 1 |
| 2017 | 2,088 | 39.8% | 1 |
| 2018 | 2,519 | 37.7% | 1 |
| 2019 | 1,882 | 37.7% | 1 |
| 2020 | 2,522 | 43.3% | 1 |
| 2021 | 3,210 | 41.6% | 1 |
| 2022 | 3,493 | 39.1% | 1 |
| 2023 | 3,470 | 37% | 1 |
| 2024 | 3,755 | 39.2% | 1 |
Products where South Africa sells more than half
| Product | Supplier | Share | Second | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Corn | South Africa | 98.5%over 75% | United States · 1.2% | $589 million |
| Natural gas and LPG | South Africa | 96.8%over 75% | Mozambique · 1.4% | $111 million |
| Bulldozers and excavators | South Africa | 55.4% | China · 26.3% | $66 million |
| Soybeans | South Africa | 83%over 75% | Malawi · 9.8% | $54 million |
| Toilet paper and tissues | South Africa | 82.5%over 75% | Zambia · 11% | $51 million |
| Polyethylene | South Africa | 67.2% | China · 8.4% | $44 million |
| Sprayers and fire extinguishers | South Africa | 79.1%over 75% | China · 12.2% | $41 million |
| Other food preparations | South Africa | 91.5%over 75% | Egypt · 2.6% | $39 million |
| Centrifuges and filters | South Africa | 64.4% | China · 19.6% | $35 million |
| Parts for cranes and excavators | South Africa | 67.6% | China · 17.7% | $35 million |
| Steel angles and sections | South Africa | 74.9% | China · 15.9% | $33 million |
| Plastic packaging | South Africa | 69.1% | China · 10% | $31 million |
| Sauces and condiments | South Africa | 97.1%over 75% | China · 1.9% | $30 million |
| Pet and animal feed | South Africa | 94.8%over 75% | India · 1.6% | $30 million |
| Detergents and surfactants | South Africa | 55.2% | China · 32% | $29 million |
| Steel bars | South Africa | 83%over 75% | Zambia · 8.2% | $27 million |
| Steel wire | South Africa | 87.9%over 75% | China · 8.7% | $25 million |
| Screws, bolts and nuts | South Africa | 74.2% | China · 16.6% | $25 million |
| Prepared explosives | South Africa | 86.7%over 75% | Zambia · 12.2% | $24 million |
| Soybean meal and pellets | South Africa | 55.3% | Zambia · 34.1% | $24 million |
| Hot-rolled flat steel | South Africa | 57.4% | China · 35.3% | $23 million |
| Transmission shafts, gears and gearboxes | South Africa | 62.4% | China · 13.7% | $21 million |
| Paper boxes and packaging | South Africa | 82.1%over 75% | Hungary · 4.7% | $20 million |
| Generating sets | South Africa | 52.7% | China · 37.9% | $20 million |
| Food processing machinery | South Africa | 64.7% | China · 9.6% | $19 million |
| PVC and other vinyl polymers | South Africa | 67.2% | China · 23.4% | $17 million |
| Petroleum coke and bitumen | South Africa | 97.2%over 75% | China · 0.71% | $17 million |
| Particle board and OSB | South Africa | 98.1%over 75% | Zambia · 0.63% | $17 million |
| Fuses, detonators and caps | South Africa | 53% | Peru · 24.4% | $16 million |
| Polypropylene | South Africa | 93.9%over 75% | China · 3.9% | $15 million |
and 166 more
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%.
Are there other suppliers in the world?
- South Africa sells 2.2% of what the world exports of corn; next come United States (23.9%), Brazil (19.5%) and Argentina (16.3%). The rest of the world exported 74.9 times what Zimbabwe buys from South Africa.
- South Africa sells 0.04% of what the world exports of natural gas and LPG; next come United States (18%), Norway (11%) and Australia (10%). The rest of the world exported 4,436.7 times what Zimbabwe buys from South Africa.
- South Africa sells 0.38% of what the world exports of bulldozers and excavators; next come China (25.8%), Japan (19.7%) and United States (6.8%). The rest of the world exported 895.6 times what Zimbabwe buys from South Africa.
- South Africa sells 0.1% of what the world exports of soybeans; next come Brazil (55.4%), United States (28.9%) and Paraguay (4.1%). The rest of the world exported 1,496.1 times what Zimbabwe buys from South Africa.
- South Africa sells 0.6% of what the world exports of toilet paper and tissues; next come China (17.5%), Germany (9.1%) and Poland (6.3%). The rest of the world exported 627.8 times what Zimbabwe buys from South Africa.
- South Africa sells 0.21% of what the world exports of polyethylene; next come United States (19.4%), Saudi Arabia (12.9%) and South Korea (6.7%). The rest of the world exported 1,927.5 times what Zimbabwe buys from South Africa.
- South Africa sells 0.5% of what the world exports of sprayers and fire extinguishers; next come China (26%), Germany (14%) and United States (11.5%). The rest of the world exported 609.5 times what Zimbabwe buys from South Africa.
- South Africa sells 0.34% of what the world exports of other food preparations; next come United States (13.8%), Germany (9.2%) and Singapore (8.3%). The rest of the world exported 1,673.7 times what Zimbabwe buys from South Africa.
- South Africa sells 1.6% of what the world exports of centrifuges and filters; next come Germany (15.2%), China (14.5%) and United States (13.2%). The rest of the world exported 2,575.1 times what Zimbabwe buys from South Africa.
- South Africa sells 0.54% of what the world exports of parts for cranes and excavators; next come China (22.1%), Germany (9.6%) and United States (9.4%). The rest of the world exported 1,973.3 times what Zimbabwe buys from South Africa.
Exports from the rest of the world already have buyers; the figure shows scale, not availability.
Seen from South Africa
Zimbabwe is South Africa’s 9th-largest customer, with 2.4% of its exports.
Sources and method
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.