Demand for macadamia nuts to grow
THE demand for macadamia nuts is expected to grow significantly in the near future, driven by changes in consumption patterns, hence a lucrative opportunity for local producers to grow their exports, ZimTrade has said.
Macadamia nuts are edible seeds of the evergreen macadamia tree. The fruit is native to Australia, but today is grown in many areas of the world such as South Africa, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Brazil and Zimbabwe.
Statistics from Eurostat indicated that Zimbabwe exported 304 million kilogrammes of macadamia nuts to European Union countries worth EUR454 million.
WTO cuts trade outlook
A number of leading economic indicators and trade statistics suggest continued weakness in global trade and output in the first half of 2019.
Year-on-year growth in monthly merchandise exports and imports remained depressed up to March with the dollar value of exports from the United States, the European Union and Japan down 1 percent, 7 percent and 7 percent respectively.
China’s exports were up 14 percent over the previous year but the increase was mostly due to a weak performance in March 2018. Imports also stalled, with no growth (0 percent) in the United States and declines of 2 percent, 4 percent and 8 percent in the European Union, Japan and China respectively.
Biosafety export permit suspended
The Rapid Results Initiative, which was launched recently by the Office of the President and Cabinet, is bearing more fruits following the indefinite suspension of biosafety export permit by the National Biotechnology Authority, the country’s trade development and promotion body ZimTrade has revealed.
The export permit for all products regulated under National Biotechnology Regulations Statutory Instrument 157 of 2018 (SI 157 of 2018), was enforced in August this year and resulted in complaints from exporters who felt this permit was an impediment as it was not a requirement by regional and international buyers.
As reported by our sister paper Business Weekly in July this year, SI 157 of 2018 required importers and exporters of food, feed, food and feed additives, and seed to register with the National Biotechnology Authority (NBA) and obtain an annual permit.
SA records large trade surplus
A weaker oil price in August, together with a solid jump in mining exports, helped to push SA’s trade balance from a deficit to a surprisingly large surplus.
South Africa exported R6,84 billion more than it imported in August, the SA Revenue Service reported yesterday. This was much better than expected: The consensus expectation among economists was for a surplus of R1,2 billion.
But July’s trade deficit was even worse than previously thought: SARS said SA imported R3,72 billion more than it exported, from the previous estimate of R2,88 billion. Exports rose by 8,4 percent from July to August to R122 billion, while imports were down 1 percent to R115billion.