Trade experts say Malawi needs to produce more to fully utilise the Chinese market, which has opened up for peanuts and soya beans.
Malawi Investment and Trade Centre (Mitc) says the country has officially met the required Chinese standards for peanuts and soya beans exports, a move that would open new opportunities for local businesses.
This milestone follows the signing of the Protocol of Phytosanitary Requirements for the Export of Shelled Peanuts and Soybeans between Malawi and China in September 2024.
But trade experts say it will need more production interventions to fully utilise such opportunities because the country has often missed out on export opportunities because of failure to satisfy the demanded volumes.
But Mitc chief executive officer Kruger Phiri is optimistic enterprises could tap on the opportunity and has since pledged his institution’s determination to facilitate the trade deals.
Phiri said: “This is a major opportunity for Malawian businesses to access the Chinese market, and we urge all interested enterprises to submit their details promptly.
“To facilitate the export process, Mitc is inviting local enterprises to submit their details for
consideration.”
A statement published on Mitc website says enterprises will need to provide basic company details, including company name, address, types of export products, company registration number, and export license number.
Additionally, they will need to submit detailed written submissions covering production environment, food safety, pest management, raw material handling, processing, quality control, packaging, and storage.
In a separate interview, Cross-border Traders Association of Malawi president Steven Yohane acknowledged the breakthrough on peanut and soya exports to China but he was pessimistic about production capacity of the country.
“This calls for Malawi to think of producing more, we can import machines to ensure we mechanize production and meet the needed exports of soya and Groundnuts.
“This is the only way we can stabilise our economy. Unfortunately, in our current state we can’t sustainably supply to any significant market without mechanization for irrigation in production,” Yohane said.
Meanwhile, Ministry of Trade and Industry spokesperson Patrick Botha confirmed the standards milestone while highlighting that the role of the ministry is facilitation for the private sector to tap on the opportunity.
“I can confirm that the standards issue was indeed resolved and we reached an agreement with China on peanut and soya. As the ministry, we believe the trade facilitation role is there to enable the business community to tap on the available opportunities.
“We believe with mega farms production initiatives, the producers are being enlightened by the Mitc updates regarding which crops have a market and where to ensure they maximize the available opportunities,” he said.
Malawi Bureau of Standards spokesperson Monica Khombe asked for more time to respond when contacted to comment on the standards issues regarding the said deal.
In an earlier interview, Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa Business Council president James Chimwaza attributed the worsening trade gap to various factors, including continued lack of production capacity and the volatile exchange rate.
He said: “If you compare the Southern African Development Community and other regions, most countries, including Malawi have not registered remarkable strides on improving capacity to produce products that are relevant for competitive exports
“There is also a continued appetite for what we do not produce, which, coupled with the volatile exchange rate, we often find ourselves with the skyrocketing balance in domestic currency terms.”
Malawi is current l y implementing the National Export Strategy (NES II) launched three years ago to boost the share of exports in the gross domestic product (GDP) to 20 percent by 2026.
