South Africa on Thursday announced its foreign trade deficit in September soared to 3.691 billion rand (550 million US dollars) from a 3.243 billion rand (484 million dollars) deficit in August, largely due to crude oil import.

South African mineral imports, which are largely crude oil, soared by 51.1 percent year-on-year (y/y) in September to a record 7.448 billion rand (1.11 billion dollars) from 4.928 billion rand (735 million dollars) in August 2005, said an I-Net Bridge report.

The 51.1 percent y/y rise in the mineral import bill nevertheless probably implied a volume decline of around 12 percent y/y, as the landed price of imported crude oil rose by 71.8 percent y/y in September after a 59.9 percent y/y increase in August.

In the first seven months of this year, the average monthly mineral import bill was only 3.868 billion rand (577 million dollars).

South Africa's mineral exports, mostly coal and iron ore, have been pulled higher due to the increase in global commodity prices and surged by 62.4 percent y/y in September 2005 to 4.863 billion rand (725 million rand).

Source: Xinhua