International trade Balance Exports Imports 600 500 400 300 200

In constant rand, imports have continued to grow rapidly while export growth eased over the previous quarter, but remained positive mostly due to the depreciation of the rand. [...] The extraordinary jump in manufactured exports in the year to the third quarter of 2022 resulted largely from higher auto and steel exports combined with the depreciation of the rand. [...] While petroleum prices fell over the third quarter, they remain high relative to before the THE REAL ECONOMY BULLETIN 2 Billions of constant (2022) rand billions of current U. [...] Again, the depreciation of the rand boosted the cost of imports, notably for oil. [...] The paper and publishing, metals and metal products, and transport equipment industries are the only three in the manufacturing sector that have seen export growth outstrip import growth; of the three, only metals and metal products maintains a positive trade balance in rand terms.