Import product concentration index in South Africa
South Africa: Import product concentration index was 0.2285 in 2011. ▲ Rising
Import 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
South Africa recorded 0.2285 for import product concentration index in 2011. That is the highest value across all 17 years on record.
That represents a change of up 5.6% on the previous year and up 19.9% over ten years.
Over the whole period, import product concentration index in South Africa peaked at 0.2285 in 2011 and was at its lowest, 0.081, in 1996.
That places South Africa 8th out of 53 countries with data for 2011, putting it in the top quarter.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 17 years of available data.
Import product concentration index in South Africa, year by year
| Year | Value | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1995 | 0.0823 | — |
| 1996 | 0.081 | -1.6% |
| 1997 | 0.0858 | +5.9% |
| 1998 | 0.087 | +1.5% |
| 1999 | 0.0839 | -3.5% |
| 2000 | 0.1895 | +125.8% |
| 2001 | 0.1905 | +0.5% |
| 2002 | 0.2047 | +7.5% |
| 2003 | 0.2221 | +8.5% |
| 2004 | 0.2022 | -9.0% |
| 2005 | 0.2086 | +3.2% |
| 2006 | 0.216 | +3.6% |
| 2007 | 0.1864 | -13.7% |
| 2008 | 0.1523 | -18.3% |
| 2009 | 0.2084 | +36.9% |
| 2010 | 0.2163 | +3.8% |
| 2011 | 0.2285 | +5.6% |
South Africa compared with similar countries
- South Africa's 0.2285 is above the median for upper middle income countries, which is 0.1193, 1.9× the median. (8 countries reporting)
- South Africa's 0.2285 is above the median for Sub-Saharan Africa, which is 0.1457, 1.6× the median. (47 countries reporting)
Biggest year-on-year movements
Years where Import product concentration index in South Africa changed far more than this series normally does. A large move can be a real event or a change in how the figure was measured — the source note below says who published it.
| Year | Change | From | To |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | +125.8% | 0.0839 | 0.1895 |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990s | 0.084 | 0.081 | 0.087 | 5 |
| 2000s | 0.1981 | 0.1523 | 0.2221 | 10 |
| 2010s | 0.2224 | 0.2163 | 0.2285 | 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 import product concentration index in South Africa?
- Import product concentration index in South Africa was 0.2285 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 import product concentration index recorded in South Africa?
- The highest recorded value was 0.2285 in 2011.
- What is the lowest import product concentration index recorded in South Africa?
- The lowest recorded value was 0.081 in 1996.
- How does South Africa rank for import product concentration index?
- South Africa ranks 8th out of 53 countries with data for 2011.
- Is import product concentration index rising or falling in South Africa?
- Over the last ten years it is up 19.9%. 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 Import 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 import 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 imports are concentrated in fewer sectors. On the contrary, values closer to 0 reflect a more equal distribution of market shares among importers. 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 importers look more concentrated.