HARARE: Zimbabwe’s exports dropped 13 percent last year compared to 2014 with the country losing its competitive edge against cheap imports, ZimTrade said. In its monthly newsletter, ZimTrade revealed that exports in 2015 amounted to $2.7 billion, representing a 13 percent decline from 2014, when the figure stood at $3 billion.
One of the reasons for the decline in export performance is that minerals, which constitute the bulk of Zimbabwe’s exports, have been affected by the falling international commodity prices, said the trade promotion agency.
It said value added (manufactured) exports, which normally fetch higher earnings, did not perform well during the same period. “The manufacturing sector’s export performance between 2014 and 2015 indicates that the sector’s capacity to export is declining. Estimates from the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe show that in 2015, manufactured exports were about $475,2 million, having declined by about seven percent compared to 2014,” said ZimTrade.
Seven representative manufacturing sub-sectors were selected for the analysis, namely: clothing, furniture, food, beverages, engineering, leather and footwear as well as agricultural inputs. “In 2015, these subsectors constituted about 10 percent of total exports, down from 13 percent in 2014,” said Zimtrade. The leather and footwear subsector registered the highest decline of 71 percent to about $12 million, followed by horticulture, which registered a decline of about 43 percent to $25 million.
The furniture subsector recorded a decline of 42 percent, engineering 40 percent, food 27 percent and agricultural inputs 17 percent. Processed foods remained the dominant subsector in 2015 constituting about 32 percent of manufactured exports, having declined from about 41 percent in 2014.
