Botswana surges as Namibia's top export partner in March 2025

Namibia’s trade landscape saw a significant shift in March 2025, with Botswana emerging as the country’s top export destination, the Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA) reported in its latest trade statistics bulletin. South Africa, however, retained its position as the primary source of imports.

The NSA highlighted that Namibia’s exports were dominated by mining products, including precious stones (diamonds), non-monetary gold, uranium, and copper products. Fish was the only non-mineral commodity among the top five exported goods. Precious stones led as the largest export, accounting for 20.1% of total exports, primarily shipped to Botswana and the United States. Fish, representing 13.6% of exports, was mainly destined for Spain, Zambia, and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).



This export surge resulted in trade surpluses with Botswana (N$1.9 billion), Zambia (N$829 million), and Belgium (N$476 million). Conversely, Namibia recorded trade deficits with South Africa (N$3.1 billion), India (N$1.2 billion), and Oman (N$585 million).



Imports were largely composed of petroleum oils, commercial motor vehicles, inorganic chemical elements, nickel ores, and civil engineering equipment, according to the NSA.

Namibia’s overall trade balance in March 2025 reflected a deficit of N$2.7 billion. While this marked a deterioration from February’s N$2 billion deficit, it was a notable improvement compared to the N$4.6 billion deficit recorded in March 2024.