The South African International Trade Trends 2025 report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com’s portfolio.
The report examines the manufacture of flour and grain mill products, with a focus on maize and wheat milling. It covers key industry aspects including production and consumption levels, pricing and inflation, consumer trends, food security, input costs, competition, and regulatory developments. The analysis also highlights new investments, major corporate actions, and profiles of 21 companies, including Premier, Tiger Brands, Pride Milling, RCL Foods, VKB, Blinkwater Meule, Senwes, Pioneer, Indlovu, and Ingrain.
Introduction
South Africa is a small, highly open economy that depends heavily on international trade, which accounted for nearly 60% of GDP in 2024. While imports and exports have shown strong long-term growth since 1994, momentum has slowed notably since 2015 due to structural challenges, global disruptions, and declining competitiveness. Elevated commodity prices—driven by the pandemic, the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Middle East instability, and renewed US protectionism under President Donald Trump’s second term—have supported South Africa’s trade surplus. However, they have also highlighted the risks associated with a narrow, commodity-dependent export base.
Asia has emerged as South Africa’s largest trading partner, surpassing Europe as both the primary source of imports and the leading export destination. At the same time, Africa has become increasingly significant, now accounting for almost one-third of exports and delivering South Africa’s most favourable trade balance due to strong demand for manufactured goods. Despite this, intra-African trade remains heavily concentrated within the Southern African Development Community (SADC), leaving substantial growth potential under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) largely untapped.
From a product perspective, imports are dominated by refined petroleum, vehicles, machinery, and electronics, while exports continue to rely heavily on minerals such as platinum group metals, gold, coal, and iron ore. Although vehicles and machinery represent important high-value exports, logistics bottlenecks at Transnet and limited industrial development have constrained growth and resulted in lost market share across several fast-growing global sectors.
China has become South Africa’s largest trading partner for both imports and exports, increasing exposure to potential economic slowdowns in China. Meanwhile, trade with the United States has been negatively affected by the expiration of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) and the introduction of President Trump’s new “Liberation Day” tariffs. These developments have reduced exports of vehicles, steel, machinery, and yachts, although higher precious metal prices have helped sustain South Africa’s overall trade surplus with the US.
Outlook
The report concludes that achieving sustainable, trade-driven growth will require South Africa to diversify its export markets, expand value-added manufacturing, and significantly improve logistics infrastructure to reduce exposure to global risks.
