Facts

With a population of 59.3 million(2020)* and a gross domestic product (GDP) of 5,067 per capita (2020) * USD, South Africa is a proven entry market for Bavarian companies in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region, and also acts as the most important trading partner for many SADC countries. The SADC is the development community of southern Africa, which is comprised of 15 countries with a total population of 300 million on approximately 10 million square kilometres. Bilateral trade between Germany and South Africa experienced a record year in 2016, when the trading volume rose to 15.5 billion euros.
Finance, mining and trade recorded positive gains in the first quarter of 2021 making the most significant contributions. South Africa and many other SADC countries have a large stock of mineral resources, including metals such as copper, gold and platinum, as well as diamonds, coal, gas deposits, etc.
 
According to the Tourism, 2020 report released by Statistics South Africa, foreign arrivals dropped by 71% from just over 15, 8million in 2019 to less than 5 million in 2020. It is evident that the COVID-19 pandemic impacted the tourism industry quite hard around the world and in South Africa, mainly due to the lockdown and travel restrictions that were imposed.
According to the report, the overall number of travellers (arrivals and departures) decreased by 71,0% between 2019 and 2020. The overall number of travellers decreased by 50,7% over a 15-year period from nearly 24,6 million recorded in 2006 to 12,1 million travellers recorded in 2020.
South Africa’s most important trading partner is the People’s Republic of China.
In recent years and decades, the historically close ties between South African and German companies have proven to be extremely resilient. Cooperation in the areas of automotive and parts manufacturing, medical technology, machinery and equipment has been developed and expanded.

source https://www.africa-business-guide.de/abg-de/maerkte/suedafrika (Africa Business Guide) GTAI