China emerges as top export market for Namibian goods

STAFF WRITER

China has emerged as Namibia’s top export destination, the latest trade statistics released by the Namibia statistics Agency (NSA) shows.

Statistician General Alex Shimuafeni said analysis of Namibia’s top trading partners revealed that China emerged as the leading export destination, while South Africa remained the primary source for domestic imports.

The latest figures also show that Namibia’s  trade balance stood at a surplus of N$856 million as at June.

This,NSA said, is a significant improvement when compared to a revised surplus of N$341 million recorded in the previous month and N$762 million deficit recorded in the same month of last year.

“The country’s export composition for June 2025 was concentrated in commodities from the mining sector such as Uranium, Non-monetary gold, Precious stones (diamonds), as well as ‘Copper and articles of copper’

. Fish was the only non-mineral product among the top five exports.

“Re-exports saw a drop in the month-on-month and year-on-year comparisons by 5.0 percent and 7.9 percent, respectively,” Shimuafeni said. 

According to the NSA the re-exports basket primarily comprised of Copper and articles of copper, Nickel ores and concentrates, Petroleum oils, Ores and concentrates of base metals, and Inorganic chemical elements. On the other hand, the import basket mainly consisted of Petroleum oils, Motor vehicles (, ‘Ores and concentrates of base metals, Motor vehicles for the transportation of persons and Nickel ores and concentrates’.

“Regarding trade on Food items, Namibia was a net exporter of Food items with a trade surplus of N$619 million and a net importer of Beverages, having recorded a deficit amounting to N$186 million,” Shimuafeni said.

The NSA said the current report considered Petroleum oils as the commodity of the month. 

“The analysis revealed that the country imported Petroleum oils worth an amount of N$1.6 billion, mainly from Oman, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. On the other hand, the country’s export of this product stood at N$335 million during the period under study,” NSA said.