10 September 2008
Maputo — As from October, Mozambique will export to Holland and other European countries beans, groundnuts, chilli peppers, cashew kernels and handicrafts.
Placing these products on European markets relies on support from the Centre for the Promotion of Imports from Developing Countries (CBI), which is an agency of the Dutch Foreign Ministry.
According to Joao Macaringue, the chairperson of the Mozambican government's Export Promotion Institute (IPEX), this project seeks to diversify Mozambican exports. It also intends to export goods that have already undergone some degree of processing, and thus contain more value added.
Mozambique's total exports are currently running at around two billion US dollars a year. Over 60 per cent of this consists of one product, aluminium ingots from the MOZAL smelter on the outskirts of Maputo. Currently Holland is the main purchaser of Mozambican aluminium.
Mozambique is also heavily reliant on energy exports - electricity and natural gas, mostly sold to South Africa.
"We are aware that our exports have not undergone any evolution in terms of diversification", Macaringue told AIM. "With this product we hope to increase the diversity of the products exported".
As a least developed country, Mozambique should be able to export goods to Europe quota and tariff free under the EBA (Everything But Arms) initiative. But Maringue admits that the goods to be exported must be of high quality and well presented if they are to stand any chance of success on the demanding European markets.
CBI consultant Annelie Wevers said that Holland will provide 900,000 Euros (about 1.27 million US dollars) in technical assistance to Mozambican farmers, over a four year period, so that they can meet quality, conservation and packaging requirements. At the end of the four year period, it is expected that the farmers chosen for the scheme will be thoroughly familiarized with European Union procedures.
The Mozambican goods, Wevers stressed, would pay no import duties "but they must obey principles of quality. The CBI is helping Mozambique because Europe believes that the local private sector is important for developing the country, and the best way of helping a country develop is to bet on its exports".
The head of development cooperation in the Dutch Embassy, Paul Litjens, told AIM "Holland will help promote the export of Mozambican goods to Holland and other European countries, because we believe that Mozambique has the potential to export these goods to Europe with the quality required".
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