The Africa Country Series: Republic of South Africa

This short profile of The Republic of South Africa (South Africa) is the 2nd in a series produced by The Pakistan Business Council (PBC). The Africa Country Series has been produced by the PBC as part of its efforts to showcase some of the major economies of Africa. These economies for various reasons don’t seem to have received the attention from Pakistani businesses that their size, populations & resource endowments warrant.
Called the “Gateway to Africa”, South Africa has the largest GDP on the continent along with an abundance of natural resources. Pakistan’s bilateral trade at US$730 million in 2014 is less than 1% of South Africa’s World trade. This compares poorly with South Africa’s bilateral trade of US$24.1 billion with China and US$8.3 billion with India. The major constituents of South Africa’s total imports of US$99.9 Billion in 2014, were Mineral Fuels (23.0%), Machinery (13.0%), Electric & Electronic Equipment (10.0%), Vehicles (8.0%), and Plastics and articles thereof (6.0%). The major contributors to South Africa’s exports of US$91 Billion in 2014 were Pearls & Precious Stones (15.5%), Ores, Slag & Ash (13.0%), Mineral Fuels (10.5%) and Vehicle (9.7%).

For Pakistani exporters the major market opportunities are in Rice, followed by Medical Instruments and Appliances, Apparel, Polyethylene terephthalate, Medicaments, Sugar, Footwear, Frozen Shrimps and Prawns, Structures & Parts of Structures, Polystyrene and Cotton.