Zimbabwe last year produced a record 35,3 tonnes of gold, which is more than the targeted 35 tonnes, on the back of increased output from new shafts that came on line and competitive payments to miners.
Last year’s haul eclipses the previous record of 33,2 tonnes realised in 2018.
In 2021, output stood at 29,6 tonnes.
The latest milestone also comes as the country’s exports hit a six-year monthly high in November last year, with tobacco and gold among the major contributors.
According to the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (ZimStat), exports rose to US$674,6 million in November 2022, the highest since January 2017.
Tobacco and gold contributed US$171 million and US$183 million, respectively.
Other exports also experienced exponential growth.
Exports in raw hides and skins (fresh or preserved, not tanned) jumped to US$3,2 million, which is significantly higher than the monthly average of US$1,6 million.
Exports of soya beans also doubled to US$1 million.
Government continues to emphasise the need to increase and diversify exports, especially of value-added goods and services.
Through the National Development Strategy 1 (NDS1), President Mnangagwa’s administration plans to increase the contribution of value-added exports to total exports to 20 percent by 2025 from 9 percent.
Overall, the goal is to gradually improve the contribution of the value-added exports to total exports from US$727,5 million in 2020 to about US$1,3 billion in 2025.
ZimTrade’s chief executive officer Mr Allan Majuru said the current success can be attributed to the new political administration’s re-engagement agenda, which is creating space for local companies to engage with buyers in traditional and non-traditional markets.
“Activities such as outward seller missions and inward buyer missions have increased exposure for Zimbabwean products, creating interest from the region and beyond,” said Mr Majuru.
“The increased interest in Zimbabwean products has led to diversified export destinations and seen Zimbabwean products penetrating non-traditional markets such as Belgium and Dubai, resulting in Dubai becoming the second-largest export destination market.”
Zimbabwe’s exports to non-traditional markets such as the United Arab Emirates (UAE), China, Belgium and Italy have witnessed unprecedented growth.
Exports to Romania and Namibia at US$1,7 million and US$3,3 million, respectively, were at their highest in six years.
While shipments to Luxembourg and Korea used to be negligible, they soared to $7,4 million and US$1,9 million in that order in November.
Exports to India also improved from their previous high of US$2,7 million to US$4,6 million in the review period.
Other record exports were to countries such as Croatia, Spain, Germany and Egypt.
Under the National Trade Policy, exports are envisaged to rise to US$7 billion by the end of this year. The target is likely to be surpassed as shipments grew to US$6 billion in the January-November period in 2022.
While officially opening the ZimTrade Annual Exporters Conference in Bulawayo, President Mnangagwa called on exporters to leverage on the “engagement and re-engagement policy to explore and reignite markets in all parts of the world, such as China, Russia, Europe and Britain, among others”.
“We must work with the unity of purpose to facilitate trade and investment as well as ensure trade policy predictability and sustainability.
“To realise sustainable export growth, we can no longer afford to work at a slow pace; everyone has to move with speed in their areas of responsibility.
“As Government, we shall continue to play our part; industry and commerce must also play theirs,” he said then.
Trigrams Investment market analyst Mr Walter Mandeya said the fact that these milestones were achieved at a time the world was grappling with various challenges shows that Zimbabwe, which is also still under illegal sanctions from the West, is on the rise.
However, imports similarly rose in the month of November to US$798 million, also the highest in six years.
Overall, imports between January and November reached US$7,9 billion, which resulted in a US$2 billion trade deficit.
Economist Ms Chenayi Mutambasere said there is a positive correlation between imports and exports.
“Much of what we produce relies on imported raw materials. With this, our trade balance will continue to remain low.”
She said there is now need “to adjust the demand side to reduce imports so that these (export) gains can make a significant overall contribution to our trade balance”. – Sunday Mail
