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Pride Mahlangu, Business Reporter
EXPORT promotion agency, ZimTrade, has completed its market surveys in Northern Angola and Southern Namibia, which have shown that local companies can leverage on the high quality of their products and the upgraded regional relations to penetrate the global market.
ZimTrade said the thriving Angolan economy and a growing middle-class with disposable income, coupled with good political relations between Harare and Luanda, present huge export opportunities for Zimbabwean businesses.
“Given Zimbabwe’s capacity to produce high-quality products, there is scope to penetrate Angola’s market and increase exports to that country,” it said in an update.
The export promotion agency said that Angola was a major importer of most consumer goods and utilities and that the supply chain was dominated by Portugal, Brazil, China and South Africa. The countries have established niche markets, which to some extent are difficult to penetrate, said ZimTrade.
“Angola’s import structure offers further opportunities for businesses that can supply cereals, products of the milling industry, pharmaceutical products, animal or vegetable oils, dairy products, poultry products, sugar and sugar confectionery, meat and edible offal, textile and clothing products,” said ZimTrade.
It said that global exports to Angola in 2018 amounted to US$16,39 billion and were dominated by products such as mineral fuels, machinery and mechanical appliances, electrical machinery and equipment, vehicles and iron and steel. ZimTrade said Namibia’s economic activities presented vast options to supply several products and services in the mining, tourism, fishing, manufacturing and agriculture sectors.
“The upgraded Zimbabwe-Namibia relations from a Joint Permanent Commission on Cooperation to Bi-National Commission opens avenues that local exporters should take advantage of to increase exports,” said the trade agency.
“Currently, the exports to Namibia, which totalled US$8,29 billion in 2018, are heavily dominated by South African businesses.
There is therefore a need for Zimbabwean companies to strategically position themselves for niche markets if they are to become successful.
Namibia’s import structure is similar to that of Angola and as such offer local companies opportunities to supply a wide range of products and services.
ZimTrade recently conducted another market survey to Malawi, which also revealed that the country has a huge export potential, which demands that local producers up their game. The trade agency has also signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with a Netherlands-based volunteer organisation PUM that will promote horticultural exports for small-scale farmers in Zimbabwe. — @pridesinstinctz.
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