Feb 08, 2023
Based on Japan's Ministry of Finance trade statistics, JETRO's dollar conversion of Japan's trade with Africa shows that in 2022, exports totaled $9,798.6 million (up 1.7% from the previous year) and imports totaled $15,146.67 million (up 8.7%), for a trade deficit of $5,348.06 million. The trade deficit increased further from the previous year.
Looking at exports from Japan to Africa by country/region, Liberia had the highest exports to Africa at $2.696 billion (up 11.4% from the previous year), followed by South Africa at $2.374.55 billion (up 0.5%), Kenya at $970.87 million (down 5.5%), and Egypt at $789.41 million (down 27.8%). The total was $789.41 million (down 27.8%) in Egypt. While shipments to Algeria grew sharply by 2.4 times ($215.9 million) over the previous year, those to Egypt and Nigeria, where foreign currency shortages are becoming even more acute, declined by 27.8% and 13.5%, respectively. Egypt's decline is thought to be due in part to changes in regulations governing import transactions.
By item, ships (25.2% of the total, up 3.5% from the previous year) ranked first as in the previous year, mainly to Liberia, the destination for ships of convenience. The next largest exports were passenger cars (16.9%, up 9.1%) and buses and trucks (13.0%, down 11.3%). Although not large in terms of composition, pharmaceuticals (0.9%, 2.1x) and motorcycles (0.8%, 2x) also showed significant growth. Steel (8.6%, up 10.8%) also increased significantly over the previous year (see Appendix Table 2).
Looking at imports by country/region, South Africa accounted for the largest share at $10.1218 billion (down 0.1% from the previous year), accounting for 66.7% of Japan's total imports from Africa. This was followed by Nigeria at $1,250.43 million (up 64.7%) and Algeria at $626.12 million (up 12.2%).
By commodity, nonferrous metals (52.2% of the total, down 4.1% from the previous year) accounted for the largest share as in previous years, followed by liquefied natural gas (9.2%, up 64.6%), iron ore (3.6%, down 34.1%), petroleum products (3.6%, up 27.1%), and automobiles (3.5%, up 2.2). Nonferrous metal ores (+3.0%, 66.9%) also grew significantly.
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