Import rise from Portugal

Portugal collected US$164 million from Mozambique in 2009 by exporting machines and devices, vehicles, food products, chemicals, plastics and rubber. The volume hit US$434 million in 2013, according to a report released by the Portuguese Agency for External Investment and Trade.
The number of Portuguese companies exporting to Mozambique doubled, from 1 316 firms in 2008 to 2 677 in 2012, Radio Mozambique reported on 25th March.
This performance has placed Mozambique among the 20 major clients of Portugal, while Mozambique’s ranking only jumped from 59 in 2009 to 58 in 2013 as one of the suppliers to Portugal.Mozambique’s exports to Portugal are mostly food products such as sugar cane, tobacco, beet and chemical sucrose. Portugal, according to statistics of 2013, is among the major three investors in Mozambique with a strong presence in infrastructure and services delivery.
The revelation came one day before Portuguese Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho lead a delegation to the second Mozambique-Portugal summit, during which 16 agreements are expected to boost Portugal’s investment in different sectors.
Relations between the two countries started to turn green when the first president of Mozambique after its independence, Samora Machel, visited Portugal in 1983. It is after the civil war that the first group of Portuguese moved back to Mozambique to install their companies. The first summit between the two countries was held in 2011 in Portugal. (The Namibian/Nampa)