Business Reporter
IN November 2025, Namibia’s trade balance – the difference between the country’s exports and imports – recorded a deficit of N$4.4 billion.
This development reflects a worsening trade balance compared to the N$2.9 billion deficit recorded a month earlier.
This is according to the International Merchandise Trade Statistics (IMTS) released by the Namibian Statistics Agency (NSA).
Statistician-General and CEO of the NSA, Alex Shimuafeni, explained that further analysis of the November 2025 trade deficit shows a year-on-year deficit of N$5.5 billion.
“The analysis of Namibia’s top trading partners revealed that South Africa emerged as the country’s largest market for both exports and imports. In terms of goods, the country’s export basket for November 2025 was mainly composed of commodities from the mining sector, such as non-monetary gold, uranium and precious stones (diamonds). Fish, as well as ‘fruit and nuts’, were the only non-mineral products among the top five exports,” Shimuafeni said.
Moreover, notable decreases of 26.1% and 33% were observed for re-exports on both a month-on-month and year-on-year basis. The re-export basket primarily comprised ‘ores and concentrates of base metals’, ‘nickel ores and concentrates’, precious stones (diamonds), petroleum oils and fertilisers. On the other hand, the import basket mainly comprised petroleum oils, motor vehicles (for commercial purposes), ‘nickel ores and concentrates’, fertilisers, and ‘ores and concentrates of base metals’.
A closer review of trade in food items revealed that Namibia was a net exporter (exporting more than it imported) of food, recording a trade surplus of N$291 million, and a net importer (importing more than it exported) of beverages, with a deficit amounting to N$251 million.
The current report considered rice as the commodity of the month. The analysis revealed that, on the demand side, the country imported rice worth N$31 million, mainly sourced from Thailand and South Africa, while on the supply side, no rice was exported during the month under review.
Photo for illustrative purposes only.
