Kenzias Chibota, the director of the country’s trade promotion body told Standardbusiness on Tuesday that Zimbabwe’s push for increased exports must also focus on value addition so that it can rake more in the process.
“There is an opportunity for us to export more because we seek a balanced trade.
“Our exports must be value-added,” Chibota said.
“At the moment we are exporting unprocessed material so there is an opportunity for us to export more to our friends.”
In 2009, Zimbabwe’s exports to China were US$54 million while imports stood at US$129 million giving a trade deficit of US$79 million.
Chibota said the deficit is set to widen after the tabulation of last year’s trade figures.
The trade gap flies in the face of government’s “Look East” policy adopted in 2004 after Harare had crossed paths with Western countries over human rights violations.
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Such a policy has seen an influx of Chinese products, some of them of an inferior quality, flooding the local market.
The clothing and textile sector has all but collapsed as cheap imports continue to flood the market.
The Zimtrade boss said the existence of the trade deficit was worrying the trade promotion body “because we cannot have a situation where our little financial resources are going out and nothing is coming back.
“It’s just not sustainable”.
China is aggressive in trade terms and is one of the world’s largest exporters and importers.
Analysts are of the view that Zimbabwe cannot compete with China as the country has neither the skills nor the technology.
Chibota said Zimbabwe needs to be capacitated but added that it depends on the country’s seriousness in engaging potential investors.
“In trade people always fight for greater share of exports to other countries but we also try to convince them that a one-way trade is not sustainable because we need to be capacitated.
“They are willing to invest in plant and machinery but it’s up to us to engage them in a very serious way,” he said.
China is pushing aggressively for trade in Africa and according to statistics, the continent’s trade with China has been doubling every three years since 2000 and hit US$107 billion in 2008 eclipsing United States as Africa’s biggest trading partner.
Although China’s trade to the continent fell to US$90 billion in 2009, it was expected to hit the US$100 billion mark last year. ENDS///
