Eastern and southern Africa trade reached $12.1bn in 2025, Windhoek forum hears

Sunday 15th November 2026

By inAfrika Newsroom

Merchandise trade between eastern and southern Africa totalled US$12.1 billion in 2025, according to research presented at a regional meeting in Windhoek and reported by The EastAfrican on 13 November. About US$7.3 billion was goods bought by eastern African countries from the southern region.

The two directions are counted separately in that total. Southern Africa bought about US$4.8 billion from the eastern region, based on the figures reported. The newspaper said mineral exports were a large part of the eastern region’s sales to the south, with the Democratic Republic of Congo and Tanzania among the principal sources.

The UN Economic Commission for Africa meeting ran from 10 to 13 November. Its discussion of connectivity examined the costs businesses encounter beyond tariffs, including the time and paperwork involved in moving a consignment through more than one national border.

Those costs matter even where trade agreements already give goods preferential tariff treatment. Exporters may still have to satisfy different checks and documentation requirements along a route. The account from Windhoek highlighted how such delays can be particularly costly for food and other perishable cargo.

In a separate briefing from the meeting, the commission said East African Community members exported US$7.2 billion to buyers across Africa in the second quarter of 2026. That quarterly figure uses a wider destination group than the annual eastern–southern Africa trade total.

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