Namibia imported tomatoes worth N.dollars 24.6 million making it the largest commodity imported during July 2022.

The trade statistics bulletin for July 2022 released by the Namibia Statistics Agency on Tuesday said tomatoes imported value in July increased by a notable 251.1 per cent as compared to July 2021.

The report said Namibia’s imports stood at N.dollars 11.6 billion, while exports stood at N.dollars 7.3 billion resulting in the country’s trade deficit of N.dollars 4.3 billion. Overall the country’s total trade for July 2022 stood at N.dollars 18.9 billion.

“South Africa remained Namibia’s largest source of imports with a share of 36.2 per cent of the value of all goods received into the country during the month,” it said.

Peru was Namibia’s second largest source of imports with a contribution of 12.0 per cent, while Oman came in third place accounting for 6.7 per cent, followed by Bulgaria and India contributing 6.3 and 5.6 per cent, respectively.

The report further noted that diamonds had the largest share of 25.3 per cent in Namibia’s total exports, followed by fish which stood at 10.6 per cent, while uranium accounted for 7.5 per cent and non-monetary gold and petroleum oils came in fourth and fifth positions accounting for 7.3 and 7.0 per cent, respectively.

It further indicated that Botswana remained the country’s largest export destination, with a share of 20.5 per cent of all goods exported followed by South Africa with a share of 19.8 per cent, while China, Zambia and the Netherlands also formed part of Namibia’s top five export markets.

“The vast amount of goods exported left the country by sea, accounting for 35.0 per cent of total exports, followed by air transport with 33.5 per cent and road transport with 31.4 per cent,” it noted.

The report also revealed that the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) emerged as the largest export market contributing 40.3 per cent of total exports, while the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) ranked second with a relative market share of 26.2 per cent and the European Union and Southern African Development Community (SADC) markets accounted for 21.2 and 17.8 per cent, respectively.

The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) market absorbed 16.4 per cent of Namibia’s total exports, it said.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency