Maputo — Mozambique's Industry and Trade Minister Armando Inroga believes that the government will be in a position to introduce a bar code system in the country later this year, since it has already met all the legal requirements.

According to minister, Mozambique has complied with all legal requirements to submit to Brussels the request for the introduction of a bar code system in the country.

The barcode is a standardized coding system for all consumer and industrial goods, as well as commercial transactions. It consists of a stamp that is stuck on the pack of products that allows one to identify the manufacturer, year of manufacturing, expiry date, among other information important to the consumer and the seller. Its reading is through a computer system.

"From then on transactions in the formal market will become easier and we will be able to export not only with the stamp Made in Mozambique, but with a bar code proving that it was really Made in Mozambique", said Inroga, speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the just ended II Fair of the Stamp "Made in Mozambique", which aimed to promote products and services using the stamp "Proudly Mozambican".

Over the last few years, Mozambican business people have been complaining for the lack of a bar code on goods produced in the country, because in the absence of it supermarkets and other retailers will prefer imported goods.

Also, they claim that the absence of this code in the country limits the export of consumption goods manufactured locally, even when they meet quality standards demanded by foreign markets.

The current bar code used in Mozambique is purchased by the companies/producers from the neighbouring South Africa and it shows information about that country, even that related with the origin of the products.

The demand to use a bar code on products manufactured in Mozambique is ever growing because of the increasing number of supermarkets that need guarantee and an easy control of the products they are selling.

The introduction of a bar code in the country is long overdue.

In 2008, the Mozambican authorities announced that the country would introduce the bar code system in 2009.