NDAMU SANDU in CAIRO, EGYPT
Zimbabwe expects companies participating at the inaugural Intra-African Trade Fair (IATF) to sign deals worth $5 million, the country’s trade promotion body said, amid calls for local products to be competitive to generate more foreign currency.
The fair, which opened on Tuesday, runs up to Monday in Cairo, Egypt. Zimbabwe has 25 companies exhibiting. ZimTrade chief executive officer Allan Majuru told Business Times theyhad projected between $4 million to $5 million adding that the body would do follow ups after six months and 12 months.
“When attended the Fruit Logistica in Germany, local companies signed deals worth $8 million and when we followed up it came to $10 million,” Majuru said.
Fruit Logistica is a fresh produce trade show held annually in February in Berlin, Germany.
He said opportunities for exports were there but Zimbabwe has to reduce the cost of exporting. This, Majuru said, included streamlining procedures and processes as “people will not spend time moving from one office to another”.
He said Zimbabwe has to benchmark it processes to South Africa or even do better to get a share of the regional trade.
“The proposal on rebates in the importation of raw materials was guided by what our competitors are doing,” Majuru said.
Forex-starved Zimbabwe has been on a push to increase exports and generate more foreign currency to meet the rising demand. The rising has spawned a thriving parallel market as companies seek to survive.
In the first half of the year, Zimbabwe realised $2,47 billion from exports, up 36,5 percent from the $1,81 billion realised in the same period last year. Imports amounted to $3,36 billion, a 27,5 percent increase from $2,63 billion realised in the comparative period last year.
Zimbabwe does not trade more with African countries with exports largely destined for South Africa (62,7 percent), Mozambique (10,5 percent), United Arab Emirates (6,4 percent), Zambia (1,7 percent) and Belgium (1,5 percent).
Zimbabwe’s major sources of imports include South Africa (40 percent), Singapore (22 percent), China (9 percent), Zambia (3 percent), and Japan, Mozambique, United Kingdom, India, Mauritius and United Arab Emirates (2 percent).
Majuru said ZimTrade has done market surveys with a thrust for Zimbabwe to grow its export base in SADC and COMESA blocs.
IATF seeks to bring together continental and global players to showcase and exhibit their goods and services, and to explore business and investment opportunities in Africa.
It provides a platform to share trade, investment and market information with stakeholders including investors, SMEs, the informal sector, Africans in Diaspora, and to identify solutions to address the challenges affecting intra-African trade.
The fair dovetails with Afreximbank’s strategy to promote intra-Africa trade under its three key pillars create, connect and deliver.
