Despite a drop in both exports and imports, South Africa remained by far Germany’s top trade partner on the entire African continent in 2002, figures reported on Tuesday showed.
The Federal Statistics Office in Wiesbaden said German exports to Africa as a whole gained by 1,7%to â,¬12,25-billion (about $14,25-billion), while imports from Africa fell by 6,2% to â,¬10,65-billion (about $12-billion). South Africa remained the dominant trade partner, with German exports there weighing in at over â,¬4,36-billion (about $5,07-billion), or more than one-third of the total.
The figure was down 1,8 % from 2001. Imports from South Africa slipped 3,6 % to around â,¬3,21-billion (about $3,7-billion), representing 3% of Germany’s total imports from Africa. After South Africa, Egypt was the second biggest trade partner on the export side, with German deliveries there reaching â,¬1,4-billion (about $1,6-billion), down 4,7% from 2001.
On the import side, the second biggest African trading partner for Germany was Libya, whose deliveries — chiefly oil — fell by almost 25% to â,¬1,61-billion (about $1,8-billion), the office figures showed. – Sapa-DPA