Mozambique - a happy hunting ground

Mozambi que has for some time been
a happy hunting ground for South African
suppliers, and while we’re not seeing the
increases of the early 90s, it has become
a very good stable market for SA products
across the board, says Bonnett.
“There’s still a huge amount of
development going on and a lot is beginning
to move north of Maputo.
“We have traditionally looked purely at
southern Mozambique, largely Maputo, but
with the coal mines developing in central
Mozambique combined with the Tete corridor
development, Beira will start to pick up.
“You’re also starting to see more tourism
development in central Mozambique away
from Maputo.”
People working on hotel developments
are talking about $400m worth of tourism
development outside Maputo comprising
large hotels and resort complexes, says
Bonnett. A lot of it is funded by Saudi Arabian
money, which is a new development in Africa.
South Africa officially exported R6.2bn
last year to Mozambique, which is similar
to 2005. H owever, if one factors in the
huge amount of informal trade through to
Mozambique via towns such as Nelspruit, it
will be much higher than this.