afrol News, 27 January - Surprising statistics show that Africa's number one importer of Norwegian products last year was war-ravaged Liberia and that the smal dictatorship Equatorial Guinea came forth. Less surprising is the presence on Africa's top economies on the top-six list of South Africa, Nigeria, Angola and Egypt.

According to Statistics Norway, the governmental statistics service, Norway's biggest export market in Africa in 2003 was Liberia, exorts totalling Norwegian kroner 610 million (euro 70.8 million). This was followed by South Africa (kroner 427 million, euro 49.6 million), Nigeria (kroner 420 million, euro 48.7 million), Equatorial Guinea (kroner 375 million, euro 43.5 million), Angola (kroner 331 million, euro 38.4 million) and Egypt (kroner 200 million, euro 23.2 million).

The seemlingly high value of Norway's exports to Liberia is however easily explained by one factor, Norway's and Liberia's important role in world shipping. Out of the export's total value of kroner 610 million, 585.2 million stem from the export of five natural gas tankers - one new ship and four used ones.

The second surprising aspect of Norway's export statistics is the rising star of Equatorial Guinea, which has no history whatsoever regarding trade with Norway. The two countries don't even have consulates in eachother's capitals, nor have there been any trade or government delegations visiting.

Equatorial Guinea has already surpassed important African economies such as Egypt and is closing on to Nigeria and Angola on Norway's exports list. The explanation is again found in one economic sector that is connecting the two countries; oil production.

Out of Norway's total export value to Equatorial Guinea, kroner 375 million, at least 370 million is in connection with the Central African dictatorship's booming oil production. This includes items such as heavy machinery and mechanical appliances, valves, pipes, boiler, tanks and tools.

Although Norwegian business recently has entered into a serious debate on ethics - including the non-trade with dictatorships like Burma (Myanmar) - there has so far been no focus at all on trade with Equatorial Guinea, a country totally unkown for Norwegians outside the oil industry.

Other large African importers of products related to the production and distribution of oil and gas were Angola (kroner 288 million, euro 33.4 million) and to a lesser degree Nigeria (kroner 81 million, euro 9.4 million).

The Norwegian-South African trade, on the other hand, definitively is the most differentiated - followed by the Norwegian-Egyptian trade. It includes products of almost all groups, from parquet floors to pesticides, paper products and salmon. Most surprisingly, Norway even exported tobacco worth kroner 5.2 million (rand 5.3 million) to South Africa last year.

Very much of Norway's exports to South Africa and Egypt also is concentrated on heavy machinery, useful for further industrialsation in these countries, the statistics reveal. This includes machines for anything from paper manufacturing to dairying - but of course also machinery and parts for the very dominant petroleum industry, which includes exports to Nigeria, Angola and Equatorial Guinea.

Norway's overall primary export goods - oil and gas - found a very limited market in Africa. Of Africa's six top importers of Norwegian goods, only South Africa bouth petroleum products in 2003, totalling kroner 79.3 million (rand 81.1 million).

Norwegian exports to Nigeria included both petroleum production related goods - among them the construction of oil platforms - and Norway's second most important export goods; fish. Nigerians bought Norwegian fish worth a total of kroner 117 million (euro 13.6 million), mostly comprising of mackerel and cod.

South Africans and Egyptians, meanwhile, have started enjoying Norwegian salmon. Almost most half of Norway's fish esports to South Africa and almost one third of fish exports to Egypt in 2003 were salmon, still considerd a delicasy in most of the world.

Norwegian export statistics for 2003 also were able to reveal much regarding the development status of many African countries. For example, 10 percent of Norway's exports to South Africa and 16 percent of exports to Egypt were raw materials and semi-mannufactures, signifying that these countries have a solid local industry that imports such items to further process them.

Likevise, a significant part of Norwegian exports to South Africa, Egypt and Nigeria were industrial or manufactured products, indicating the presence of a rather large market of consumers and local businesses. Regarding Angola and Equatorial Guinea, on the other hand, Norwegian exports were totally dominated by the boom in oil production.

Turning to Norwegian imports from Africa, the picture was totally different. The African country exporting most to Norway in 2003 was Botswana, with exports valuing kroner 1,148 million (euro 133.2 million). Meat was a significant part of this export. Botwsana is followed by South Africa (kroner 613 million, euro 71.1 million), which has a more varied export.

These two Southern African nations' exports to Norway are by distance the greatest in numbers. They are followed by Morocco, Gabon, Tunisia, Namibia and Egypt. Norway's imports from the top export destinations - Liberia, Equatorial Guinea, Nigeria and Angola - isn't worth mentioning.

By staff writers

© afrol News

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