What does South Africa produce and export?
South Africa ranks in the top ten producers of 15 commodities: chromium (#1, 45% of world output in 2025), manganese (#1, 38% of world output in 2025), platinum (#1, 71% of world output in 2025), palladium (#2, 37% of world output in 2025), zirconium (#2, 23% of world output in 2025), titanium (#3, 14% of world output in 2025) and more. It is a top-ten exporter of chromium (#1, 85% of world export value in 2024), iridium (#1, 48% of world export value in 2024), manganese (#1, 49% of world export value in 2024), platinum (#1, 36% of world export value in 2024), rhodium (#1, 36% of world export value in 2024) and more.
The Bushveld Complex is a body of layered igneous rock that cooled about two billion years ago and left thin, remarkably continuous seams enriched in platinum-group metals. Nothing comparable is mined anywhere else, and the seams dip underground at a shallow angle, which means deep, narrow, labor-intensive shafts rather than open pits. South Africa produced 73% of the world's platinum in 2025 (USGS) and held 36% of world platinum export value in 2024 (CEPII BACI). Because the same reef carries palladium, rhodium and ruthenium in fixed proportions, producers cannot respond to the price of one metal without changing the output of the others.
Gold built the country and is in long decline. The Witwatersrand basin, discovered in 1886, holds gold in ancient conglomerate beds that continue for kilometers downdip, and mines chasing them became the deepest in the world, some working nearly four kilometers below surface at rock temperatures that require refrigeration. Depth, cost and grade have cut output steadily, which is why South Africa no longer appears among the largest producers but still held 4.9% of world gold export value in 2024 (CEPII BACI), some of it refined metal from elsewhere in Africa.
Bulk minerals face a different problem. High-grade hematite at Sishen in the Northern Cape travels 860 kilometers on a dedicated heavy-haul line to Saldanha Bay, and coal from Mpumalanga runs east to Richards Bay; both routes have carried well below their design capacity because of locomotive shortages, cable theft and maintenance backlogs. South Africa mined 2.6% of world iron ore in 2025 (USGS) and held 4.2% of world iron-ore export value in 2024 (CEPII BACI), and it took 3.9% of world coal export value in 2024 (CEPII BACI). The same coal supplies most domestic electricity, and the rolling blackouts that began in 2008 have constrained smelting and processing across the mining industry. Agriculture is smaller but regionally important: white maize grown on the Free State and North West highveld feeds southern Africa, and the country held 2.0% of world corn export value in 2024 (CEPII BACI).
What does South Africa produce?
| Commodity | World rank | Share of world | Production | Year | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chromium | 1 | 45% | 23 million t | 2025 | USGS MCS |
| Manganese | 1 | 38% | 7.6 million t | 2025 | USGS MCS |
| Platinum | 1 | 71% | 120 t | 2025 | USGS MCS |
| Palladium | 2 | 37% | 70 t | 2025 | USGS MCS |
| Zirconium | 2 | 23% | 270,000 t | 2025 | USGS MCS |
| Titanium | 3 | 14% | 1.3 million t | 2025 | USGS MCS |
| Fluorspar | 4 | 4.1% | 410,000 t | 2025 | USGS MCS |
| Vanadium | 4 | 4.4% | 5,000 t | 2025 | USGS MCS |
| Tellurium | 6 | 0.5% | 5 t | 2025 | USGS MCS |
| Coal | 7 | 2.6% | 236 million tonnes | 2025 | Energy Institute |
| Iron ore | 8 | 2.5% | 66 million t | 2025 | USGS MCS |
| Sisal | 9 | 0.5% | 1,256 t | 2024 | FAOSTAT |
| Grapes | 10 | 2.5% | 1.9 million t | 2024 | FAOSTAT |
| Silicon | 10 | 0.2% | 10,000 t | 2025 | USGS MCS |
| Wool | 10 | 2.6% | 43,355 t | 2024 | FAOSTAT |
What does South Africa export?
| Rank | Commodity | Export value (US$) | Share of world |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gold | $29 billion | 4.9% |
| 2 | Chromium | $7.2 billion | 85% |
| 3 | Coal | $6.9 billion | 3.9% |
| 4 | Iron ore | $6.6 billion | 4.2% |
| 5 | Platinum | $5.3 billion | 36% |
| 6 | Manganese | $3.1 billion | 49% |
| 7 | Palladium | $2.8 billion | 21% |
| 8 | Rhodium | $2.7 billion | 36% |
| 9 | Grapes | $1.1 billion | 8.7% |
| 10 | Iridium | $1.1 billion | 48% |
| Rest of world | $0 | <0.1% |
South Africa's own tracked-export mix
| Commodity | World rank | Share of world exports | Export value | Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chromium | 1 | 85% | $7.2 billion | 2024 |
| Iridium | 1 | 48% | $1.1 billion | 2024 |
| Manganese | 1 | 49% | $3.1 billion | 2024 |
| Platinum | 1 | 36% | $5.3 billion | 2024 |
| Rhodium | 1 | 36% | $2.7 billion | 2024 |
| Titanium | 1 | 23% | $746.2 million | 2024 |
| Zirconium | 1 | 36% | $619.7 million | 2024 |
| Feldspar | 2 | 14% | $92 million | 2024 |
| Fluorspar | 2 | 30% | $155.1 million | 2024 |
| Palladium | 2 | 21% | $2.8 billion | 2024 |
| Oranges | 3 | 15% | $843.9 million | 2024 |
| Wool | 3 | 10% | $281.6 million | 2024 |
| Grapes | 4 | 8.7% | $1.1 billion | 2024 |
| Iron ore | 4 | 4.2% | $6.6 billion | 2024 |
| Orange juice | 4 | 3.9% | $72.8 million | 2024 |
| Vanadium | 5 | 9.7% | $65.1 million | 2024 |
| Apples | 6 | 7.4% | $601.3 million | 2024 |
| Corn | 6 | 2% | $931.3 million | 2024 |
| Gold | 6 | 4.9% | $29 billion | 2024 |
| Phosphate rock | 6 | 4.9% | $259.7 million | 2024 |
| Coal | 7 | 3.9% | $6.9 billion | 2024 |
| Nickel | 9 | 4.4% | $626 million | 2024 |
| Sorghum | 9 | 0.7% | $19.3 million | 2024 |
| Avocados | 10 | 2.7% | $251.8 million | 2024 |
| Lamb | 10 | 0.9% | $84.1 million | 2024 |
| Silicon | 10 | 2.4% | $97 million | 2024 |
Top-ten importer of
- Sorghum: #4, 1.3% of world imports, $35.2 million (2024)
- Wool: #7, 1.4% of world imports, $40.1 million (2024)
- Chromium: #9, 0.6% of world imports, $54 million (2024)
Sources: FAOSTAT (crops and livestock), USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries (minerals), Energy Institute Statistical Review (energy) for production; CEPII BACI for trade. Ranks count only the commodities on this site.
South Africa commodity by commodity
South Africa in the pattern reports
What South Africa uses
South Africa had about 63 million people and a food supply of 2,694 kilocalories per person a day in FAO's 2023 food balance sheets. Its eight largest supplies among the commodities tracked there:
| Commodity | Domestic supply | Share of world | kg per person | Self-sufficiency | Imported |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Corn | 12.0 million tonnes | 1% | 80 | 137% | 3.6% |
| Milk | 4.3 million tonnes | 0.4% | 52 | 88% | 28% |
| Wheat | 4.3 million tonnes | 0.5% | 54 | 48% | 68% |
| Potatoes | 2.3 million tonnes | 0.6% | 32 | 105% | 3.3% |
| Chicken | 2.1 million tonnes | 1.6% | 34 | 87% | 15% |
| Soybeans | 2.1 million tonnes | 0.6% | 0.3 | 133% | 0.2% |
| Sugar | 1.8 million tonnes | 1% | 25 | 125% | 28% |
| Rice | 1.6 million tonnes | 0.2% | 24 | 0.2% | 115% |
FAO reports a negative domestic supply for South Africa's dates (−2 thousand tonnes; production 0 tonnes, imports 3 thousand tonnes, exports 5 thousand tonnes), meaning exports exceed production plus imports in the year. These are not counted as use and are left out of the table above.
Who supplies South Africa
- Single-supplier markets. South Africa buys half or more of its imports from one country in 7 of 11 import markets of $250 million or more, among them gold from Tanzania (55%, $4.1 billion); natural gas from Mozambique (52%, $800 million); rice from Thailand (77%, $637 million); palm oil from Indonesia (62%, $497 million); chicken from Brazil (80%, $389 million); sugar from Eswatini (68%, $361 million). Import dependency.
How long South Africa's own reserves would last
- Chromium: South Africa's reserves are about 15 years of its own output at the current rate (45% of world output, 29% of world reserves), against 24 years for the world.
- Manganese: South Africa's reserves are about 72 years of its own output at the current rate (38% of world output, 31% of world reserves), against 90 years for the world.
- Titanium: South Africa's reserves are about 22 years of its own output at the current rate (14% of world output, 5.7% of world reserves), against 53 years for the world.
- Vanadium: South Africa's reserves are about 104 years of its own output at the current rate (4.4% of world output, 2.4% of world reserves), against 189 years for the world.
- Fluorspar: South Africa's reserves are about 100 years of its own output at the current rate (4.1% of world output, 12% of world reserves), against 33 years for the world.
South Africa and critical minerals
South Africa is the largest producer of 3 minerals on a US or EU critical list, each at 20% or more of world output: platinum (71%, 2025), chromium (45%, 2025), manganese (38%, 2025). Source: the concentration report on USGS, FAOSTAT and Energy Institute production.
Downloads and citation
This country's rankings as JSON · PDF summary. Cite as: Commodity Origins, "What does South Africa produce and export?", https://commodityorigins.com/countries/ZAF/ (CC BY 4.0).
Data updated 22 October 2026.