Find Industry and Manufacturing expertise in Mozambique
- Overview
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The industrial sector contributed approximately 23.4% to Mozambique’s GDP in 2010 according to a World Bank report published in 2011. Manufacturing plays a fairly small role in the country, and contributed 13.2% to the total GDP of 2010 (Africa Economic Outlook 2012).
The main manufacturing products in Mozambique include: wheat flour; food; beverages; aluminium; petroleum products; textiles; cement; glass; and tobacco. Almost all manufacturing takes place in the major urban areas of Maputo, Beira, and Nampula. Agriculture continues to play a predominant role in the country; this is reflected in the food and beverage production, with the most important product in terms of commercial value being beer. Mozambique competes strongly with the rest of Africa in the manufacturing of wood and furniture.
A major producer of beer in Mozambique is the company Cervejas de Mocambique (CDM) – Beers of Mozambique, the Maputo brewery owned by this company and located in Nampula has the capacity to produce 480,000 hectolitres of beer per annum. In 2012 CDM announced plans to increase its productivity by 35% to 650,000 hectolitres a year. Another key manufacturer in Mozambique is Companhia Industrial da Matola (CIM), the largest local food producing company in the country. CIM produces wheat flour, maize meal, pasta and biscuit brands marketed under household names and employs more than 750 workers.
Mozambique is a large exporter of unwrought iron, which comprises over 60% of the country’s total yearly exports. Mozambique’s major export partners include parts of Western Europe, South Africa and Zimbabwe. Mozambique is reliant on imports of refined petroleum oils, electrical energy, and motor vehicles, mainly imported from South Africa and parts of Asia.
Several manufacturing industries have recently been highlighted by Mozambique’s Investment Promotion Centre (CPI) as noteworthy industries to consider endorsing, including: textiles, aluminium, iron and steel, and coal and gas. CPI plans to invest in adding value to its primary product in order to maximise the country’s natural resources.
The 2012-2013 World Economic Forum Global Competitiveness report rated Mozambique as 127 out of 144 countries for production process sophistication, with an overall score of 2.7 out of 7 with 7 being the most sophisticated. This is a fairy standard score for the region; the neighbouring country of Zimbabwe ranked 135 out of 144 countries with an overall score of 2.5.
