US$17 billion question: why China and South Africa are so far apart on trade data

Whenever South African officials meet their Chinese counterparts to talk trade, the issue of the imbalance in China’s favour is almost certainly raised. But a discrepancy in the data from the two sides makes it hard to assess the trade gap. The latest Chinese customs data suggests that South Africa actually holds a surplus – exporting more to the world’s second-largest economy than it receives in return. Advertisement According to the numbers from Beijing, China recorded US$30.58 billion in imports from South Africa last year. However, the South African data…