User Guide > International > Trade

SARS Customs Data

This dataset is comprised of SARS customs data, showing aggregated international trade flows into and out of South Africa. There are 351 series, spanning monthly from January 2010 to two months ago.

Dataset ID: SARS_TRADE

Attributes

Unit of Measure (Rands)
Unit Multiplier (degree of zero, units)
Label (codes: paste0(REF_AREA, " ", TRADE_FLOW, " ", COUNTERPART_AREA_1, ": ", series_name))
Source Dataset (“SARS (Customs)”)
Frequency (Monthly)

Dimensions

There are four ways that we’ve aggregated the data:

Tariff Chapters
Mode of Transport
20 Countries
South African Ports

When you pick one of these variables, the other three will only give their total. Also, there is no series that has the total for all four of these variables (i.e. total South African exports or imports), but this can be calculated by aggregating one of these four variables.

1. Measure

Values

2. Mnemonic

Codelist: CL_COMMODITY in the ECONDATA agency. Tariff chapter description as the name; tariff code as the code

Total 00
Live animals 01
Meat 02
Fish, crustaceans, molluscs 03
Dairy, eggs, honey 04
Other products of animal origin, 05
Plants 06
Vegetables 07
Fruit and nuts 08
Coffee, tea, spices 09
Cereals 10
Wheat, malt, starches 11
Oil seeds; straw, fodder 12
Lac; gums; resins, saps 13
Vegetable plaiting materials and products 14
Animal or vegetable fats 15
Preparations of meat 16
Sugars 17
Cocoa 18
Bread, biscuits & pastries 19
Preparations of vegetables, fruit, or nuts 20
Miscellaneous preparations 21
Beverages, spirits and vinegar 22
Residues and waste from the food industry 23
Tobacco 24
Salt; sulphur; earth, stone; plastering materials, lime, cement 25
Ores, slag, ash 26
Mineral fuels or oils 27
Inorganic chemicals 28
Organic chemicals 29
Pharmaceutical products 30
Fertilizers 31
Tans, dyes, paints, varnishes, inks 32
Perfumes 33
Soaps or cleaning solutions 34
Glue 35
Explosives; pyrotechnic products; matches 36
Photosensitive materials (used in photography) 37
Miscellaneous chemical products 38
Plastics 39
Rubber 40
Raw skins and raw leather 41
Articles made of leather 42
Fur 43
Wood 44
Cork 45
Basketware or wickerwork 46
Wood pulp 47
Paper 48
Printed books, newspapers, pictures, plans 49
Silk 50
Wool or hair 51
Cotton 52
Yarn, vegetable textile fibre 53
Man-made filaments 54
Man-made staple fibres 55
Wadding, felt, nonwovens, twine, ropes 56
Carpets 57
Lace, embroidery, tapestries 58
Impregnated, coated, covered or laminated textile fibres (industrial) 59
Knitted or crocheted fabrics 60
Knitted or crocheted clothes 61
Clothes (not knitted) 62
Other textiles or rags 63
Shoes 64
Hats 65
Umbrellas and sticks 66
Prepared feather or down articles 67
Articles of stone, plaster or cement 68
Ceramic products 69
Glass 70
Jewellery 71
Semi-finished iron or steel 72
Articles of iron or steel 73
Copper 74
Nickel 75
Aluminium 76
Lead 78
Zinc 79
Tin 80
Other base metals; cermets 81
Tools or implements made of base metal; cutlery 82
Miscellaneous articles of base metal 83
Nuclear reactors, boilers, machinery 84
Electrical machinery and equipment 85
Trains or railway components 86
Vehicles 87
Aircraft, spacecraft 88
Ships, boats 89
Cameras, video recorders; measuring, precision or surgical instruments 90
Clocks or watches 91
Musical instruments 92
Guns and ammunition 93
Furniture or bedding 94
Toys, games or sports 95
Miscellaneous manufactured articles 96
Art or antiques 97
Original equipment components 98
Effects 99

3. Mode of transport

Codelist: CL_TRANSPORT_MODE_TRADE

Total TOTAL
Air AIR
Fixed FIXED
Inland Water INLWATER
Mail MAIL
Maritime MARITIME
Multimodal MULTIMODAL
Not Applicable NOTA
Not Specified NOTS
Rail RAIL
Road ROAD

4. Trade Flow

This is in relation to South Africa. This dimension is not necessary in a global context, as it is only from a South African perspective.

Codelist: CL_TRADE_FLOW

Total Exports E
Total Imports M

5. Reference Country or Area

See “Country or Port” below.

6. Primary Partner Area

See “Country or Port” below.

Country or Port

The presence of both the “Trade Flow” concept and the pair of “Reference Country or Area” and “Primary Partner Area” is tautologous, as the “Reference Country or Area” is the outbound area and the “Primary Partner Area” is the inbound area. Thus, exports vs imports will have the same two countries mirrored between dimensions five and six.

For the countries variable, we will only load a static set of the biggest 20 trading partners (from the January 2010 to June 2025 history), and an “Other” country category.

Codelist: CL_REGION_TRADE

Aggregate

South Africa (The Republic Of) ZA
World Excluding South Africa TX

Country

Other OO (aggregate of all the countries not below)
United Arab Emirates (The) AE
Belgium BE
Botswana BW
China CN
Germany DE
Spain ES
France FR
United Kingdom Of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (The) GB
India IN
Italy IT
Japan JP
Korea (The Republic Of) KR
Mozambique MZ
Namibia NA
Nigeria NG
Netherlands (The) NL
Saudi Arabia SA
Thailand TH
United States Of America (The) US
Zimbabwe ZW

Port

Airports

Bloemfontein Airport BFN
Cape Town International Airport CPT
King Shaka International Airport DUR
Lanseria Airport HLA
O.R. Tambo International Airport JNB
Nelspruit Airport MQP
Pilansberg Airport NTY
Pez Inter Airport PLZ
Richards Bay Airport RCB
Upington Airport UTN

Towns

Reserve Bank SARB
Germiston/Alberton ZAALB
Alexander Bay ZAALJ
Beit Bridge ZABEI
Bloemfontein ZABFN
Caledonspoort ZACAL
Cape Town ZACPT
Durban ZADUR
East London ZAELS
Ficksburg Bridge ZAFBG
Golela ZAGOL
Groblers Bridge ZAGRB
Jeppes Reef ZAJEP
Johannesburg ZAJNB
Kimberley ZAKIM
Komatipoort ZAKOM
Kopfontein ZAKOP
Mafeking/Mmabatho ZAMAF
Mahamba ZAMAH
Mananga ZAMAN
Maseru Bridge ZAMAS
Mossel Bay ZAMZY
Narogas ZANAK
Nerston ZANER
Oshoek ZAOSH
Oudtshoorn ZAOUH
Paarl ZAPAA
Port Elizabeth ZAPLZ
Pretoria ZAPRY
Pietersburg ZAPTG
Pietermaritzburg ZAPZB
Qachasnek ZAQAC
Ramatlabama ZARAM
Richards Bay ZARCB
Robertson ZAROB
Saldanha Bay ZASDB
Skilpadshek ZASKI
Stellenbosch ZASTE
Upington ZAUTN
Van Rooyenshek ZAVAN
Vioolsdrif ZAVIO
Vredendal ZAVRE
Worcester ZAWOR
Unknown ZN
Ship or aircraft ZZ

International Categories

International Monetary Fund

World Bank

Trade