Dubai an opportunity to grow export base, Sunspun

Fruit and vegetables producer and distribution company, Sunspun, is looking at diversifying its market reach to as far as Dubai and the United Arab Emirates, managing director Tafadzwa Katemauswa has said.

Katemauswa is currently in Dubai where he is attending the outward seller mission organised by trade development and promotion organisation Zimtrade.

The outward seller mission which started yesterday with a seminar will see participating Zimbabwean companies hold business to business meetings with potential buyers from Dubai. This will be done today and tomorrow.

Partipating companies will also have a chance for company visits. At least ten companies are taking part at the outward mission.

Katemauswa sees this as an opportunity to explore new markets.

“For growth of the company we believe in exports and in addition to bananas that we are already exporting into South Africa, we are now looking at exporting horticulture and vegetables into Middle East and Europe,”
Katemauswa said.

He said Sunspun is already growing its hectarage in preparation for the export markets.

“Already we have peas on the ground and this is destined for the export market. We want to quickly expand into the export market.”

The outward seller mission which started yesterday with a seminar will see participating Zimbabwean companies hold business to business meetings with potential buyers from Dubai. This will be done today and tomorrow.

On what is needed for Zimbabwean companies to successfully export, Katemauswa said there is need for Zimbabwean companies to work together.

“We are very optimistic about Dubai, but we need to work together as Zimbabwean companies, to collaborate on some issues and share information because this market is big enough for everyone,” he said.

Katemauswa also appluded the work that is being done by Zimtrade including organising outward seller missions.

“We are positive about the support we are getting from Zimtrade and also from the Ministry of Agriculture.”

“Those support structures are important in efforts to grow exports.”

“In terms of our export capacity, the sky is the limit and we have started working with other small players so that we can help each other with logistics,” said Katemauswa.

Meanwhile Zimtrade board chairperson Clara Mlambo said Zimbabwean companies should now focus on exporting value added products to augument mineral and raw products that are largely being exported currently.

While Zimbabwe has been growing its exports over the years, they are biased towards mineral and primary products.

But according to Mlambo Zimbabwe has a comparative advantage in the production of a number of products and should focus on those in its export drive.

Mlambo metioned horticulture products, tobacco products as well as exotic leather and leather products as some of the products that Zimbabwean companies can focus on exporting.

Speaking at a Zimtrade organised outward seller mission currently taking place here in Dubai, Mlambo said once Zimbabwean horticulture exporters penetrate the Dubai market, they have high chances of spreading to other United Arab Emirates countries.

“As Zimtrade, we are cognizant of the fact that UAE is strategically located between the East and West, which makes it accessible to emerging economies in the Gulf region, linking shipping routes and facilitating goods movement between the different regions in Middle East, Asia, Europe and Africa,” Mlambo said.