Southern Africa expects stable growth for agricultural imports and exports this year despite the current volatile global economic situation.According to Jan De Vries, executive managing director of Cornelder de Mozambique, agriculture continues to be a focus of growth for many governments in the region and has led to improved volumes of fertilizer imports.
“Governments are intent on increasing the yields and we are very positive about the developments we are seeing in countries like Zambia, Zimbabwe and Malawi where the increased use of fertilizer is being incentiv ised.”He said exports were steadily growing as the agricultural industry continued to improve its yields.
According to De Vries, while much of the excess production was generally consumed within the region, exports were improving.“We are seeing significant volumes of sugar exports, and while there has been a reduction in the quantity of raw sugar exported in bulk, there has been an increase in the move towards more refined sugar in containers.”
De Vries said increased volumes of tobacco were moving out of the Beira port and were currently at around 30 000 TEUs per year. “We can safely say that the Port of Beira is the primary port of choice for tobacco producers in Zimbabwe, Malawi and Mozambique. We also have some volume coming out of Zambia.”
According to De Vries past problems with tobacco beetle had been successfully addressed thanks to the establishment of a committee that not only analysed where the problem was in the supply chain, but also introduced and promoted best practices.
“There have been lessons learnt both at the port and the depots, leaving the industry impressed at Beira port’s ability to control temperatures despite the climate condition being humid.”
Another agri commodity that was seeing notable increases in volumes was pulses, said De Vries, especially out of Mozambique and Malawi. “The past two years there were limitations on imports by India that did impact on volumes, but this seems to have been cleared up and we are seeing the market opening up again.”
De Vries said other commodities that were improving included cashew nuts and tea.“The overall agricultural outlook remains positive. One has to be cognisant of the fact that it is globally a very challenging economic time and that it could have an impact, but at present many of the commodities moving on our corridors and through the port have been essential commodities.
