Blister copper remained Namibia’s largest export commodity during December 2021, accounting for 34.4% of total exports mainly destined to China. This is according to the Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA) monthly trade bulletin for December released last week. Blister copper is partly purified copper that is about 98.5 to 99.5% pure with a blistered surface formed during smelting.

Precious stones (diamonds) followed in second place and accounted for 13.1% of total exports destined mostly to Botswana, UAE, Belgium and Hong Kong. Uranium was ranked third on the list with a market share of 11.1% that was destined to China, France and Canada.

CEO of NSA, Alex Shimuafeni stated: “Non-monetary gold accounted for 8.1% of total exports, of which most was destined for South Africa and Angola.

Finally, fish accounted for 6.9% of total exports mostly destined to Spain, Zambia and South Africa. The aforementioned top five export commodities jointly accounted for 73.5% of total exports during the period under review.”

Furthermore, Shimuafeni said in December 2021, total re-exports stood at N$4.9 billion, up from N$4 billion recorded in the previous month and the corresponding month of last year. Re-exports are commodities imported by residents who assume short-term ownership before exporting these to further destinations. 

“Subsequently, these commodities are exported without undergoing any significant industrial transformation. Even though there are no substantial transformation, re-exports have the potential to benefit the intermediate country by rendering services such as sorting, re-packaging, storage, transport and trade mediation services. This implies that the country’s services sector greatly benefits from activities of re-exports. Additionally, re-exports serve as an indication of favourable corporate tax in the intermediate country,” the CEO added.