Export product concentration index in South Africa
South Africa: Export product concentration index was 0.1607 in 2011. ▲ Rising
Export product concentration index in South Africa, 1995–2011
Source: UNCTAD Statistical Office, also reported in the UNCTAD Handbook of Statistics, various issues (http://unctadstat.unctad.org/).
Analysis
In 2011, export product concentration index in South Africa stood at 0.1607. That is the highest value across all 17 years on record.
Compared with earlier readings it is up 7.0% on the previous year and up 21.4% over ten years.
Over the whole period, export product concentration index in South Africa peaked at 0.1607 in 2011 and was at its lowest, 0.0618, in 1997.
That places South Africa 51st out of 53 countries with data for 2011, putting it in the bottom quarter.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 17 years of available data.
Export product concentration index in South Africa, year by year
| Year | Value | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1995 | 0.0773 | — |
| 1996 | 0.0784 | +1.4% |
| 1997 | 0.0618 | -21.1% |
| 1998 | 0.0721 | +16.7% |
| 1999 | 0.0901 | +24.9% |
| 2000 | 0.1176 | +30.5% |
| 2001 | 0.1324 | +12.6% |
| 2002 | 0.1198 | -9.5% |
| 2003 | 0.1283 | +7.1% |
| 2004 | 0.1327 | +3.4% |
| 2005 | 0.1403 | +5.7% |
| 2006 | 0.1555 | +10.8% |
| 2007 | 0.1587 | +2.1% |
| 2008 | 0.1568 | -1.2% |
| 2009 | 0.1409 | -10.1% |
| 2010 | 0.1503 | +6.6% |
| 2011 | 0.1607 | +7.0% |
South Africa compared with similar countries
- South Africa's 0.1607 is below the median for upper middle income countries, which is 0.6216, 26% of the median. (8 countries reporting)
- South Africa's 0.1607 is below the median for Sub-Saharan Africa, which is 0.4301, 37% of the median. (47 countries reporting)
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990s | 0.0759 | 0.0618 | 0.0901 | 5 |
| 2000s | 0.1383 | 0.1176 | 0.1587 | 10 |
| 2010s | 0.1555 | 0.1503 | 0.1607 | 2 |
Countries ranked near South Africa
More trade data for South Africa
- Commodity Net Export Price Index, Individual Commodities Weighted by 109.35 (2025)
- Commodity Net Export Price Index, Individual Commodities Weighted by 100.81 (2025)
- Commodity Export Price Index, Individual Commodites Weighted by Ratio 99.79 (2025)
- Commodity Export Price Index, Individual Commodites Weighted by Ratio 95.89 (2025)
- Commodity Import Price Index, Individual Commodites Weighted by Ratio 98.98 (2025)
- Commodity Import Price Index, Individual Commodites Weighted by Ratio 77.42 (2025)
- Imports of low carbon technology products, Percent of GDP 1.03 (2024)
- Imports of low carbon technology products, US dollar (World), per 64.23 units per person (2024)
- Imports of low carbon technology products, US dollar (World), per 0.0102 units per US$ of GDP (2024)
- Exports of low carbon technology products, US dollar (World), gaps 1.75 billion (2024)
Frequently asked questions
- What is export product concentration index in South Africa?
- Export product concentration index in South Africa was 0.1607 in 2011, according to UNCTAD Statistical Office, also reported in the UNCTAD Handbook of Statistics, various issues (http://unctadstat.unctad.org/).
- What is the highest export product concentration index recorded in South Africa?
- The highest recorded value was 0.1607 in 2011.
- What is the lowest export product concentration index recorded in South Africa?
- The lowest recorded value was 0.0618 in 1997.
- How does South Africa rank for export product concentration index?
- South Africa ranks 51st out of 53 countries with data for 2011.
- Is export product concentration index rising or falling in South Africa?
- Over the last ten years it is up 21.4%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this South Africa data come from?
- The figures come from UNCTAD Statistical Office, also reported in the UNCTAD Handbook of Statistics, various issues (http://unctadstat.unctad.org/), published as part of Export product concentration index. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 17 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data).
About this data
This indicator reflects the Herfindahl-Hirschmann index measure of the degree of export concentration within a country. The sectoral Hirschmann index is defined as the square root of the sum of the squared shares of exports of each industry in total exports for the region under study. Takes a value between 0 and 1, with 1 indicating that only a single product is exported. Higher values indicate that exports are concentrated in fewer sectors. On the contrary, values closer to 0 reflect a more equal distribution of market shares among exporters. Note that this type of concentration indicator tends to be quite vulnerable to cyclical fluctuations in relative-prices, in a way that commodity price rises make commodity exporters look more concentrated.