When South Africa was pulled out of the Commonwealth of Nations in 1961, the United Kingdom opposed monetary and economic sanctions. Britain had many key trade links and, in particular, needed South Africa’s gold.

Exports today include corn, diamonds, fruits, gold, metals and minerals, sugar, and wool. Machinery and transportation equipment make up more than one-third of the value of the country’s imports. The country’s diamond industry is the fourth-largest in the world, with only Botswana, Canada, and Russia producing more diamonds each year.

Among individual countries, China is South Africa’s biggest trading partner, with imports and exports between the two nations totaling R263.9 billion in 2013.

The UK signed a continuity deal with six African nations – South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, Eswatini (formerly Swaziland) and Mozambique – on 9 October. Trade between the UK and these six countries was worth £10.2bn in 2018. 

As we leave the EU and create a new independent UK trade policy, we will build further on our £9 billion annual trade with South Africa, our biggest trading partner in Africa, and champion free trade to help developing countries combat poverty and grow their economies.

The UK remains an important strategic partner for South Africa globally. South Africa and the UK have enjoyed mutually beneficial preferential trade since the entry into force of the first reciprocal trade agreement between South Africa and the EU in January 2000.

If you need to ship goods to South Africa we offer a range of Professional Freight Shipping Services via Sea, Air & Road. Our Dedicated Customer Services Team at Independent Freight and Hooper & Co who are always on hand to help and solve your problems quickly and efficiently. 

Call us to obtain a free quotation on:  +44(0)2476 343037

A brief summary of 2019 – focusing on the Brexit process now that the General Election has taken place.

• The Conservatives Government won the General Election with a large Majority on the 12th of December.
• This will most probably mean the Withdrawal Bill is passed before the end of the Month.
• We should then leave the EU on the 31st Jan 2020.

• Although we leave the EU there will then be a 12 months transition period where nothing will change as such.
• This will mean that business have 12 months to prepare for Brexit.
• There is an option to extend the Transition period by a further 1-2 years – if by June 2020 negotiations for a future Deal before the end of Dec 2020 are looking unlikely.
• However, as we now go to press the PM has announced that there will be a new Bill which rules out an extension to the Transition period.

Following on from this, the likely outcome is a pretty basic trade deal with the EU which will be implemented at the end of Jan 2021.

However, we now appear to have a timeline and a framework for what trade will look like with the EU, over the next 12 months we will continue to send out blogs updating our customers and providing them with more information on how to ship goods to other international markets, such as the USA and Canada, the Far East, Middle East, South America, Africa and Asia…



Whatever you need to transport and wherever it needs to go, Independent Freight can meet your freight challenge. Some of our core services include:

• Sea Freight
• Road Freight
• Customs Clearance
• International Customs
• Project Management Consultancy

The key to our success is the competence of our staff. Whether you are new to importing or exporting we go out of our way to make sure that your shipment moves completely to plan.