Vehicle exports from South Africa to Africa declined to 61 593 units in 2014, compared with 78 787 units in 2013.

This is according to South Africa’s Automotive Export Manual (AEM) 2015, compiled by Dr Norman Lamprecht on behalf of the Automotive Industry Export Council.

The report states that vehicle volumes to the local industry’s top destinations in Africa, namely Algeria and Nigeria, reflected “a substantial decline due to new vehicle import regulatory changes being implemented on new vehicle imports in 2014”.

Nigeria has been pushing the development of its own vehicle assembly industry, and has sharply increased import duties on new vehicles to facilitate this development.

Policy changes have seen Algeria curtail government support for the purchase of commercial vehicles; bakkies included.

The export manual notes that vehicle and component exports from South Africa to the rest of Africa increased to R31.62-billion in 2014, up from R30.19-billion in 2013. However, when Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia and Swaziland are excluded from the equation, 2014 exports reached R16.56-billion, down from R17.88-billion in 2013.

When including all the countries, the biggest African export number belongs to light vehicles, at R15.17-billion, followed by trucks, at R3.67-billion. Tyres are the most popular component exported to Africa in 2014, at R1.6-billion, followed by engine parts, at R732.4-million.

Truck exports seem to be slowly gaining ground.

Total truck exports from South Africa, aimed almost exclusively at Africa, increased from 861 units in 2010, to 1 412 units in 2014, finds Lamprecht in his report.

Looking at vehicle and component exports from South Africa to all global markets, African markets still feature strongly.

Namibia is South Africa’s third biggest export market, Botswana the 7th, Mozambique the 9th, Zambia 10th, Zimbabwe 12th, Nigeria 14th (down from 12th in 2013), Swaziland 15th and Angola the 20th biggest export market.

Algeria has moved to 24th place, down from 7th in 2013.