The Beitbridge Border Post.
South Africa saw a 6% fall in exports, from R253-billion in 2019 to R238-billion in 2020, which the Cross-Border Road Transport Agency (C-BRTA) attributes largely to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The pandemic, the agency said, severely affected South Africa’s exports, owing to the shutdown of economies in order to contain the spreading of the virus.
A report titled ‘Statistics on Trade Volumes and Values Moved by Road through South African Commercial Border Posts and Destination Countries’, which was commissioned by C-BRTA, found that, in 2020, South Africa exported by road 27.2-billion units of goods, valued at about R238-billion, to neighbouring countries.
C-BRTA said on September 1 that the report’s findings would be used to engage and influence stakeholders to implement fit-for-purpose interventions that would improve cross-border road transport movements, eliminate constraints in corridors and border posts and improve trade between South Africa and its neighbours.
According to the report, South Africa exported the highest trade volumes to Mozambique through the Lebombo border post. This border post handled the highest trade volumes (46%) of all border posts in South Africa.
Mineral ores accounted for the highest volume of South Africa’s exports to Mozambique, at about 9.8-billion kilograms. Mineral ores accounted for 72% of Mozambique’s total imports from South Africa.
Meanwhile, in 2020, Botswana was the major importing trading partner for South Africa, receiving goods valued at about R74-billion from South Africa.
South Africa’s exports to Botswana were valued at about R95-billion in 2019; thus, the 2020 figure represented a 22% decline.
Botswana was the second-biggest importer of South African goods, receiving 6.5-billion units of goods.
Botswana was followed by Zimbabwe at 3.7-billion units of goods transported through the Beitbridge border post. This affirmed that the Beitbridge border post is largely used for the transit of cargo from international markets bound for landlocked countries in the region or cargo from these countries bound for international markets, the C-BRTA said.
Overall, however, South Africa’s exports to all the neighbouring countries recorded a year-on-year decline in 2020, except for exports destined for Zimbabwe, which registered a 20% surge.
In terms of imports by road, South Africa imported 30.7-billion units of goods, valued at about R40.9-billion, from its neighbours.
South Africa’s principal exporter was eSwatini, which exported about 38% (1.4-billion pieces of goods) of the total volumes of 3.7-billion pieces of goods.
The Oshoek border post processed about 18% (683-million pieces of goods) of the total trade volume South Africa imported from its neighbouring countries, and it was also the busiest border post that processed eSwatini’s exports destined for South Africa.
Meanwhile, the Golela border post processed about 7% of South Africa’s imports from eSwatini.
Botswana was the second-biggest exporter to South Africa, with most of the shipments processed through the Grobler’s Bridge and Ramatlabama border posts, which handled 349-million and 329-million pieces of goods respectively.
South Africa documented a reduction of about 11% in imports – from R46-billion in 2019 to R40.9-billion in 2020.
Meanwhile, South Africa’s inter-trade (summation of exports and imports) with neighbouring countries in 2019 was valued at about R299.6-billion, declining by about R20.7-billion, or 6.9%, in 2020.
Against this background, C-BRTA acting CEO Lwazi Mboyi said the agency would focus on accelerated implementation of key projects aimed at improving the performance of the cross-border transport system and addressing inefficiencies affecting cross-border operations.
Projects will include, besides others, the Linking Africa Plan, which outlines sector-specific programmes recommended to close infrastructure gaps, address bottlenecks affecting cross-border transport and trade and improve intra-African trade.
The C-BRTA will also focus on the Integrated Cross-Border Management System, which Mboyi said is a risk-based regulatory system for implementing quality regulation through an operator accreditation framework.
Mboyi said the C-BRTA would “continue to lobby and champion the harmonisation of regulatory instruments in the region in order to enhance regulatory efficiency, reduce the cost of doing business and create a sustainable operating environment for transport operators and traders”.