The Sunday News
Dumisani Nsingo and Wilson Dakwa, Senior Business Reporters
THE Government has reduced the number of products that require export licences as it forges ahead to improve the ease of doing export business.
The country’s trade promotion body, ZimTrade said the reduction of products that require export licences is part of the on-going ease of doing export business — Rapid Results Initiative.
The reduction was done through Statutory Instrument (SI) 122 of 2017, which was published on 22 September 2017.
Following the amendments, the only four products that still require export licences are fertiliser, raw and refined sugar, gypsum and second-hand equipment.
“These products are deemed strategic and hence still require export licences to enable Government to regulate their exportation. A product may be deemed strategic because of its nature, its limited supply or the risk involved in its exportation. Some of the products that were removed from the list include butter, cream, vegetable oil, margarine and melamine boards, among others,” said ZimTrade.
The recommendation to revise the list was made in consultation with both the Public and the Private Sector under the Ease of Doing Export Business framework.
“There are several reforms that were recommended to various ministries during the RRI which are yet to be implemented. An implementation taskforce has been put in place to oversee the implementation of the agreed reforms. The taskforce is also mandated to address any challenges that may arise in the implementation stage of the reforms. It will also attend to additional recommendations that may be submitted by various stakeholders under the ease of doing export business framework,” said ZimTrade.
Commenting on the development, the ZimTrade board chairman, Mr Lance Jena said;
“The removal of products from the licensing list comes at a time when Government is looking at various initiatives to grow exports. We applaud the Ministry of Industry and Commerce for being exemplary in the implementation of RRI reforms to improve the Ease of Doing Export Business and we encourage other Ministries to follow suit”.
The Ministry of Industry and Commerce has also implemented some administrative reforms that include reduced processing time of export licenses from a maximum of fourteen days to a maximum of two days.
The ministry has also expressed its willingness to extend a moratorium to companies that have been reluctant to export due to Standard Development Fund arrears. The reprieve would, however, be extended to companies on a case-by-case basis.
Meanwhile, ZimTrade has urged local pineapple growers to exploit the huge pineapple market in the Netherlands as it accounts for almost half of the world’s pineapple consumption.
The trade promotion board said European Union (EU) was the largest and fastest growing market for fresh pineapples accounting for 46 percent of the world’s total consumption of the product.
According to TradeMap, the total consumption of pineapples by the EU in 2016 stood at 1.3 million tonnes, which presents great potential for pineapple suppliers. In 2016, the Netherlands was the leading consumer with a 21 percent market share.
This market has since grown by 12 percent in the last five years, from US$210 million in 2012 to US$235 million in 2016 and has developed rapidly, with supermarkets being the main outlet.
