Africa
South Africa
EU Compliance · Geopolitical Risk · Sourcing Attractiveness
Market-entry intelligence →Why these scores
EU Compliance, by dimension
1 = lowest risk · methodology & sources
Geopolitical Risk, by dimension
1 = lowest risk · methodology & sources
Attractiveness, by dimension
9 = most attractive · methodology & sources
Analyst scores, last reviewed June 2026; each dimension's sources and cadence are on its methodology page.
Data layers
The EU is South Africa's #2 import source (world lens). South Africa is the EU's #44 goods supplier.
South Africa on the world stage
Total imports
$202.4bn
2024 annual
Total exports
$220.1bn
231 partners
#1 import source
China
9.6%
#1 export dest.
China
5.6%
2024 annual, UN Comtrade (HS TOTAL, all partners). Line colour: coverage (exports/imports per partner).
South Africa and the EU
EU imports from
€21.7bn
0.9% of extra-EU
EU exports to
€23.8bn
0.9% of extra-EU
EU supplier rank
EU's #44 supplier
EU trade balance
balanced or surplus
coverage 1.10
2025 annual totals, Eurostat COMEXT. EU trade board →
Electricity & grid
National sources · carbon from Ember
Industrial
74
EUR/MWh
Consumer
102
EUR/MWh, all-in
Grid carbon
709
gCO₂e/kWh
Renewables
10%
of generation
Wholesale 69 EUR/MWh · regulated market
Power market
● Take-or-pay / single-buyer lock-inMarket model
Single buyer with competitive IPP procurement
Direct PPA
Allowed
grid access: limited
Reserve margin
–
Regulator
Independent
NERSA (National Energy Regulator of South Africa)
Ageing coal fleet (average 41 years) caused a load-shedding crisis in 2023-2024 with only 36 loadshedding-free days in FY2024. Dramatic improvement in 2025 (352 loadshedding-free days). Coal phase-out without sufficient…
Tracked infrastructure
1 gas plants
280 MW
90 coal plants
44.2 GW · 1 building
37 wind farms
3.6 GW · 1 building
51 solar farms
4.0 GW · 17 building
2 nuclear plants
1.9 GW
6 hydro plants
3.5 GW
4 steel plants
6,400 ktpa
66 coal mines
capacity n/a
Operating assets tracked by Global Energy Monitor (CC BY 4.0); counts are tracked facilities, not exhaustive totals. Energy overview →
Metal mining
Tagged mines
77
51 production-backed
Acid-drainage prone
19
high water-risk ore class
Main commodities
Gold, Other mine, Other (poly)-metallic
Mine-water verifiability
Partial
rich AMD record (Witwatersrand)
Water risk is inferred from the ore class, not site measurements. Global mines: full layer →
Monitored ports (10)
Source: IMF PortWatch. Port count reflects monitoring coverage, not economic significance.
Demographics
UN World Population Prospects 2024 · medium variant
Median age
28.5
→ 32.3 by 2050
Fertility
2.21
above replacement
Working-age
67.4%
aged 15–64
Old-age dep.
9.9
→ 16.8 by 2050
Median age 1990–2050
Population 64M · still growing past 2100
By 2050: +24% (79.2M)