Related Articles
Top Stories
May 27 2012 11:21
There's a price war raging between South Africa's cellphone networks after Cell C lowered the rates of its prepaid calls by more than 34%.
May 27 2012 13:09
The oversupply of golf estates has claimed another victim.
May 27 2012 11:49
The country's 200 000-odd Tupperware agents are angry about the counterfeit products being sold as the real McCoy.
Johannesburg - South Africa recorded a trade deficit of R1.981bn for its trade with non-Southern African Customs Union trading partners in August after the R446.758m surplus of July, according to Customs & Excise figures released on Wednesday.
A R500m surplus was expected, a survey by I-Net Bridge had found, with forecasts varying from a R2bn deficit to a R1bn surplus.
A record R17.380bn deficit was struck in January this year from a previous worst in October 2007 of R14.7bn, but South Africa achieved its first trade surplus since 2006 of R2.020bn in May and then followed up with surprise surpluses in June and July.
The data reflected a large decrease of R1.764bn in exports of mineral products, while vegetable product exports dropped by 30% on the month, or R809m. Vehicle, aircraft and vessel exports fell by 21%, or R708m.
Imports of vehicles, aircraft and vessels decreased by 32%, or R1.454bn, while mineral product imports increased by R342m.
- I-Net Bridge