SA pursues investment, trade opportunities in Zim

Golden Sibanda : Senior Business reporter

A South African business delegation from a cross section of key sectors of its economy will visit Zimbabwe later this year on a trade and investment mission. According to South African’s Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Pretoria will sponsor selected entities looking to increase exports and services to Zimbabwe or seeking opportunities for investment.There are a number of leading South African that are already established in Zimbabwe and among them Pretoria Portland Cement (PPC), Tongaat Hulets Zimbabwe, Old Mutual Zimbabwe, MBCA Bank, Pick n’ Pay, Metallon Gold and Zimplats.

Further, South Africa is Zimbabwe biggest trading partner while Zimbabwe is in the top three major trading partners of South Africa. About 70 percent of Zimbabwe’s export go to South Africa.

Companies qualifying for sponsorship on the trade and investment mission will be drawn from agriculture and agric-processing, infrastructure, engineering, energy, mining and capital equipment, textile, leather, footwear and electro technical sectors.

“It will present an ideal platform for South African companies who would like to export value added products and services and for companies who are looking for investment opportunities and joint venture partnerships in the afore-said market,” SA’s DTI said.

“Companies will be screened and selected in line with Export Marketing and Investment Assistance (EMIA) guidelines and market requirements, which are explained in the EMIA guidelines document.”

The objective of this mission, DTI said, is to increase trade and investment between South Africa and northern neighbor Zimbabwe. Trade between the two countries topped $4,2 billion last year.

SA’s DTI said it will provide hotel accommodation on bed-and-breakfast basis; an economy class return airfare to a maximum of R17 000 and freight/excess luggage up to R2 000 to approved firms.

The Department of Industry and Commerce said South African Companies not eligible for EMIA funding, but keen to participate are allowed to take part in this mission at their own expense.

Zimbabwe requires significant investment in various sectors of the economy to increase the amount and value of exports, as it has consistently been recording trade deficits over the past two decades.

Low industrial output, due to a myriad of problems afflicting the manufacturing sector and export of predominantly raw materials means imports at $6 billion continue outweigh exports at about 3,5 billion. It is against this background that Government late last month gazetted statutory instrument 64 of 2016 to restrict imports from South Africa, which local industry has capacity to produce internally.

National trade promotion body, ZimTrade also recently called for South Africa to increase access to its markets by Zimbabwean valued added products such as clothing, footwear and furniture.