Tanzania bans South Africa and Malawi imports as trade row escalates

A normally bustling border crossing between Tanzania and Malawi was absent of its regular activity on Thursday morning as a trade row in the region deepens.

From midnight, Tanzania banned the entry of all agricultural imports from Malawi and South Africa in response to what it sees as restrictions on some of its exports.

South Africa has for years prohibited the entry of bananas from Tanzania. Malawi, last month, blocked imports of flour, rice, ginger, bananas and maize from its northern neighbour.

“We are taking this step to protect our business interests… in business, we must all respect each other,” Tanzania’s Agriculture Minister Hussein Bashe said on Wednesday confirming the import ban.

Diplomatic efforts to resolve the trade issues have so far failed but Bashe said fresh talks were ongoing.

The row comes at a time when Africa is supposed to be moving towards greater free trade through the establishment of a continent-wide free-trade area, which began operating four years ago.

South African exports of various fruits, including apples and grapes, to Tanzania will be hit. Meanwhile, landlocked Malawi, which has relied on Tanzanian ports to carry its exports such as tobacco, sugar and soybeans to the rest of the world, will have to reroute its goods.

Malawi’s ban on the import of certain produce, announced in March, was designed as a temporary measure covering goods from all countries to protect local producers, according to the authorities in Lilongwe.

While confirming the import ban, Bashe assured Tanzanians that it would not threaten their food security.

Neither South Africa nor Malawi have commented on Tanzania’s move.

Credit: bbc.com

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