N$12.4 million’s coffee warms Namibians in April

As the cold winter months set in, Namibians found warmth in steaming cups of coffee as the country imported N$12.4 million worth of the beverage in April.

Most of the coffee came from South Africa and Switzerland.

Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA) chief executive Alex Shimuafeni in the Namibia International Merchandise Trade Statistics Bulletin for April says the country also exported coffee worth N$14 629 during that period.

This contributed to the country recording a trade balance deficit of N$1.9 billion for April.

“This is an improved trade balance compared to a deficit of N$2.7 billion recorded in the previous month, and a significant improvement compared to the same month last year, which had a trade deficit of N$3.1 billion,” he says.

Shimuafeni says Namibia’s export earnings for April 2025 stood at N$11 billion, reflecting an increase of 9.1% on March exports.

The country’s import bill for the month stood at N$12.9 billion, reflecting an increase of 1% from N$12.8 billion recorded in the preceding month and translating into an improved trade deficit of N$1.9 billion.

Namibia’s cumulative exports amounted to N$41.9 billion during April 2025, an increase from N$35.4 billion registered over the same period of the previous year.

“The cumulative imports value for the month under review amounted to N$51.2 billion, higher by N$2.1 billion from the N$49.1 billion recorded over the same period in 2024,” the bulletin says.

In April, Namibia recorded N$42.0 million trade surpluses with China, Botswana (N$1 billion), and Zambia (N$451 million).

The country however, recorded trade deficits against South Africa (N$2.1 billion), India (N$2 billion), and Oman (N$340 million).

According to the NSA, petroleum oils were the largest contributor to the country’s trade deficit, recording a deficit of N$2.5 billion in April 2025, followed by motor vehicles for commercial purposes, which posted a deficit of N$569 million, while vehicles for the transportation of people recorded a deficit of N$421 million.

“Contrary to the deficits, encouragingly, the country recorded trade surpluses on uranium amounting to N$2.9 billion,” the NSA says.

Non-monetary gold and fish came second and third, recording trade surpluses of N$1.7 billion and N$1.2 billion, respectively.

Uranium was Namibia’s largest export commodity in April 2025 accounting for 26% of total exports, predominantly to China while non-monetary gold came second, on 15.4% total exports, destined for South Africa.

Fish came third at 11.5% for the Spanish, Zambian and Italian markets, while diamonds ranked fourth on 10.5% mainly destined for Botswana, the United Arab Emirates and Belgium.

Ores and concentrates of base metals took fifth position at 5.8% of total exports and were mostly destined for Brazil, South Africa and China.

The top-five export commodities accounted for 69.1% of total exports.

April 2025 saw the country re-export goods worth N$3 billion, representing a 9.3% decline month on month and a year-on-year decline of 8.2%.

The top-five imports accounted for 37.1% of total imports, with petroleum oils emerging at the top of the list, accounting for 22.4%.

In second and third positions were commercial motor vehicles and nickel ores and concentrates at 4.9% and 3.5%, respectively.

Passenger motor vehicles ranked fourth on the list, accounting for 3.3%, and ores and concentrates of base metals were fifth with a share of 3.1%.

– matthew@namibian.com.na

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