Botswana’s trade balance for the month of March recorded a bumper surplus of more than 1-B Pula (US$116.6-M) as increased Diamonds sales powered exports up by 17% against a modest 3% rise in imports.

According to figures released by Statistics Botswana (SB) Tuesday, the month of March recorded a trade surplus of US$116.6-M, a 255% jump from February surplus of US$33.2-M.

Anchoring March’s 17% rise in exports was a 800-M Pula (US$93.3) jump in Diamonds exports to 5.3-B Pula (US$618.1-M) while Copper exports also weighed in rising from 243-M Pula (US$33.1-M) to 438-M Pula (US$51-M) between the 2 months.

On a year on year basis, the March 2013 total exports increased by slightly over a 100% from the total value of exports realized in March 2012, which stood at 3.1-B Pula (US$361.5-M).

Diamond trade, which comprises both rough and polished stones, accounted for over 85.5% of exports with copper and nickel, machinery and electrical equipment contributing 7.1 and 2.1% respectively.

On the import side, Diamonds again contributed the highest share at 32.1% during the month, followed by fuel with 18.4%. Machinery and electrical equipment contributed 10.4% followed by food, beverages and tobacco and chemicals and rubber products, with 9.3%.

March’s surge in Diamond export also pushed Q-1 trade balance into a surplus of 617-M Pula (US$71.9-M), the 1st Quarterly surplus since Q-3 of Y 2007.

The country’s trade balance has since Y 2008 traded heavily in the negative as imports outweigh exports with rolling annual deficits ballooning from 3-B Pula (US$349-M) in Y 2008 to 16-B Pula (US$1.8-B) in Y 2012.

According to SB figures, 60% of Botswana imports came from South Africa while Namibia supplied 12.6%. The major suppliers of imports from Asia were Israel and China with 2.1 and 1.0% respectively.

On the exports side, EU remained the largest destination for Botswana products with goods valued at 4.5-B Pula (US$524.8-M), representing 72.4% of total exports in March 2013.