Jan.- Jan.~ Jan.- .lan.- Jan.- .lan.- Sept. Sept. Percent Sept.. Sept. Peroent Sept. Sept. Percent 1987 1988 change!I1987 1988 change!I1987 1988 chanCjlesi Germany, Federal RepubUc of 25893739 44 8391269 51 17502470 41 JapanSI 30183153 4 17301515 -12 128816~8 27 United J(.lnCjldom 19142538 33 8211105 3" 1OV)1433 31 .) ItalySi! 20812.,67 18.S UnitedStates ofAme~icaV19752434 23 10371154 11 9381280 37 T~iwan, pro~ince ofChina 6761255 86 360 791 laD 317 464 47 Pranoesi 9971213 21.7 8elgium! Luxembourg si 636 873 37.3 SI/itaerland 366 628 72 171 395 132 196 233 1l/ HongkongV 405 549 36 233 302 29 172 248 44 Netherlands 33!1 409 20 137 158 15 202 250 24 Spain 298 387 30 229 282 23 68105 53 Isuel 229 212 -7 174 '..3~ -22 55 76 38 C~n,da 143 194 36 17107 39 66 87 33 Austria 130 161 24 16 92 21 54 69 28 Ireland 49 76 54 7 11 66 42 65 53 Norway 12 17 37 616 168 6 1 -84 NewZealand 15 17 .1.0 8 6 -31 711 SS Denmark 14 15 4 3 5 55 11 10 -10 Finland!I 0 0 40 0 0 •t;o 0 0 100 Source, Fort.heUnitedStates, theUnitedNations Satistical Office. Forallothercountries, the Independent ExpertStudyontheEvaluation oftheApplication andImpactofSftnctions (Commonwealth Secretariat), basedonM2nthlyStatistics ofForeign TEadeoftheOrganisation forEconomic Co-operation andDe/e10pment (OECD), January 1989,exceptforHongKon9,IsraelandTaiwan, province ofChina,forwhich naUo.....lataHaticswereused. Ratesofexchange, OEeDandIsradldatainUnitedStatesdollars, HonCjlKong,fixedat .US1.00c'HK7.8,TaIwan, provinoe ofChina,medianratesl 1987.US1.00•31.5ntiWTaiwandollars, 1988SUS1.00•$NT28.7. !fBasedonfigures beforerounding. ElJapan,SouthAfrica's leading trading partner in1987, report~~ tothe~nitedNations thatits tradewithSouthAfricaintheyear1988totalled $3.98billion, representing a4per~entreduction compared with1987. si Fund. .,Figures arefor1987and1988andarebasedonstatistics compiled bytheInternational Monetary Re-exports areincluded • 11TotaltradewithSouthAfricaamounted tolessthan$0.5million. Thepercentage roduction in imports andincrease ineXpM~ts between 1987and1988lSshown. -:1.8-109.Asindicated intable2,SouthAfrica's external trade,inrespect toboth imports andexports, ishighlyconcentrated infourtradinq partner countriesl the Federal Republic ofGermany, Japan,theUnited Kingdom andtheUnitedStates. The Fpderal Republic ofGermany andJapanarenowSouthAfrica's biggest t~adi"g partners, withsubstantially moretrade(combined imports andexports) thantheir 1983-1985 average. InthecaseoftheFederal Republic ofGermany, gold,coaland
**Analysis**
The text appears to be a statistical report on international trade, specifically focusing on the trade between South Africa and various countries, including its top trading partners. The report provides data on imports, exports, and trade balances, as well as percentage changes between 1987 and 1988. The text also mentions the concentration of South Africa's external trade in a few countries, which suggests that international trade is a significant aspect of the country's economy.

**Category**
International trade