DRC eyes opportunities in country’s agriculture industry
COMPANIES from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are confident that the recent business forum held in Harare to promote trade with Zimbabwe will yield positive results, including opening a supply channel for agricultural produce and capacity-building expertise.
Sugar is one of the key agricultural commodities DRC companies expect to source from Zimbabwe.
The Great Lakes country intends to tap into Zimbabwe’s production capacity for the supply of key farmed or manufactured commodities and expand the market for its product offerings, including mineral fuels.
Federation of Congolese Enterprises (FEC) Katanga province vice-president, Mr Lambert Tshisueka said this at the Zimbabwe-DRC Business Forum hosted by the national trade promotion and development body, ZimTrade, last week.
According to Mr Tshisueka, the mining industry in the DRC is currently experiencing significant growth presenting numerous opportunities for Zimbabwe to supply required spares and accessories.
The extraction and processing of natural resources have become a lucrative business in the DRC economy, offering a wide range of job prospects for export growth.
“Currently, we have the mining sector, which is booming and offers lots of opportunities,” said Mr Tshisueka.
He was confident their Zimbabwean partners would provide input and capacity-building expertise to develop the agricultural sector in the DRC.
“We also expect a lot of input from our Zimbabwean counterparts who have huge experience in agriculture so that they can come into our country and do some capacity development in that sector with our people,” said Mr Tshisueka
Piere Kwete, a businessman from the DRC and the proprietor of Super Marche MOTA, which is involved in the trading of fast-moving consumer goods (FMCGs), said the real estate industry was one of the thriving sectors in his country.
According to Mr Kwete, this presented significant opportunities for the supply of construction materials.
“The DRC is like a baby who is coming up, so there lies a lot of opportunity as we seek to source our supplies.
“Sourcing things from Zimbabwe is like sourcing from our own home, we are confident we are going to close meaningful deals from this mission,” said Mr Kwete.
The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Ambassador Albert Chimbindi, said that The DRC presented various business opportunities that entrepreneurs can capitalise on.
He said the DRC’s mining sector is of particular interest, as the country is actively seeking mining equipment and machinery to support its extraction activities.
“We also have opportunities that are in the DRC that our businesspersons can take advantage of.
“They were talking about mining and they are looking for machinery to do the mining,” he said.
The DRC’s booming real estate industry offers opportunities for the supply of various construction materials including electrical products, bricks, door frames, timber, wooden poles, roofing tiles and fencing materials.
The number of Zimbabwean companies already doing business in the DRC has been increasing, as reflected by the growth in trade volume, which grew to US$87 million in 2022 from US$32 million in 2018.
Zimbabwe mainly exports coal, coke and coking of coal, plastic and other plastic articles, machinery, cereals, and cigarettes while the country imports cobalt oxides and hydroxide, copper, wood, and articles of wood, textiles, and starches.
DRC’s exports to Zimbabwe increased to US$3,5 million in 2022 from US$92 000 in 2020.
Trade statistics show that local products such as sweets, yogurt, biscuits, cheese, tinned foods, peanut butter, honey, sugar, cooking oil, soap and washing powder can compete well in the DRC market.
Fast-moving consumer goods (FMCGs) and horticultural products have a ready market in the DRC.
FMCGs in particular have huge potential given the DRC’s limited manufacturing capacity, which sees the country rely on processed food imports from across the world.-chronicle
