Zim exporters can tap UK, Ghana markets
ZIMBABWEAN exporters should take advantage of national trade promotion and development body, ZimTrade’s, trade missions to diversify exports into the United Kingdom (UK) and Ghana as well as unlock opportunities in the wider African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
ZimTrade chief executive officer Mr Allan Majuru said this in a speech read on his behalf by the agency’s operations director Mr Similo Nkala during a UK and Ghana market survey dissemination seminar in Harare on Tuesday.
Zimbabwe’s national trade development and promotion organisation conducted the survey in the two markets in May this year.
Mr Majuru said the UK has traditionally been a significant trade partner of Zimbabwe and
at one point was ranked among the top five export destinations for Zimbabwe.
He said though the UK market was being held back by uncertainty following its exit from
the European Union, the economy was in a recovery mode after posting growth of 4,5
percent in 2021 while it is projected to have grown by a further 4,7 percent last year.
“The UK is heavily dependent on imports for most of its products and the market survey
that was conducted by our team aimed to gather information on what type of produce
Zimbabwe can export to that country following the signing of the Economic Partnership
Agreement.
“Historically, we all know that the UK was a traditional trading partner for Zimbabwe
where we exported a wide range of products.
“At one time, the UK was among the top five export markets for Zimbabwe,” said Mr
Majuru, adding that the UK market was heavily dependent on imports for most of its
products and the market survey that was gathered by the agency aimed to gather more
information on what type of products Zimbabwe can export to that country.
This follows an Economic Partnership Agreement signed between Zimbabwe and the UK
some years ago to promote increased trade and investment and in turn contribute to
sustainable growth in the country.
According to Trade Map, Zimbabwe’s exports to the UK in 2021 stood at US$14 million
with major exports consisting of minerals and fresh produce.
“However, there is potential for diversification and supply of products such as essential
oils, value-added products such as dried fruits as well as arts and crafts.
“In our endeavour to diversify our exports markets as well as take advantage of the
AfCFTA, this year we targeted the Ghana market, which is in West Africa (a first for us to
explore this region).
“The market is a non-traditional market for Zimbabwe as we have not traded with each
other in any meaningful way.
“We hope this initiative will assist us to improve the trade figures between our two
countries which currently are miniscule.”
Mr Majuru said Zimbabwe’s exports to Ghana have been low, averaging below US$10 000
for the past five years while imports averaged just over US$500 000 per annum.
The ZimTrade boss said such a scenario presented Zimbabwe with a challenge to take the
bilateral trade relations between the two countries to another level.
“Our plan is that as we penetrate the Ghanaian market, it will be a springboard into other
West Africa countries using the AfCFTA trade agreement. Buyers in these markets don’t
know much about some of our brands, therefore, we need to invest a lot in terms of brand
development. This should be both at company level and us as your trade promotion
organisation investing into the promotion of our brands as a nation,” he said.
In separate interviews, some of the participants at the seminar said they found the event
useful as it provided information on new markets.
Rukanda Pride sales and marketing executive Ms Tryphine Mugasa whose company is in
leather products manufacturing said: “The market dissemination seminar was very
useful because we were able to identify markets like Ghana. “We didn’t know about
Ghana that much, so now as we go back to our workplaces we will be able to find
marketing strategies to penetrate the Ghana market. We will also be able to identify the
opportunities that we have in the local market.
“We also learnt that never take ‘no’ for an answer when you are in business and thus we
should look for opportunities to diversify our exports into new markets such as the
Ghanaian market that has been presented to us today.”
After the dissemination seminar on UK and Ghana markets, she said her company would
consider diversifying their products to manufacture corporate ware targeting markets in
Ghana. An official from Tramarock Investments director of operations Engineer Nelisiwe
Karara said her organisation has been exporting oyster mushrooms to Zambia, Namibia
and Botswana but through the UK and Ghana market dissemination seminar, they were
now eyeing the European market.
“We have been exporting oyster mushrooms to Zambia, Namibia and Botswana and from
here we are looking at bigger things, we want to penetrate the European market,” she
said.-The Herald
