Thursday, April 24, 2025

Tanzania bans agric imports from South Africa, Malawi

The move comes in retaliation for longstanding restrictions.

Tanzania has halted all agricultural imports from South Africa and Malawi, escalating a trade dispute among the Southern African nations.

“We are taking this step to protect our business interests. This is business — in business, we must all respect each other,” said Tanzania’s Agriculture Minister, Hussein Bashe, according to the BBC.

The move comes in retaliation for longstanding restrictions. South Africa has for years refused to allow Tanzanian bananas into its market, while Malawi — which shares a border with Tanzania — blocked imports of flour, rice, ginger, bananas, and maize earlier this year.

Bashe criticized these measures as “unfair and harmful,” saying they “directly affected” Tanzanian traders. “No Tanzanian will die from a lack of South African grapes or apples,” he said. “We are taking these actions to protect Tanzanian interests.”

The ban affects a range of products, including fruits like apples and grapes from South Africa. Malawi, a landlocked country that depends heavily on Tanzanian ports such as Dar es Salaam for exports like tobacco, sugar, and soybeans, may face major logistical challenges rerouting through alternative ports in Mozambique.

While confirming the ban, Bashe insisted the decision was not aimed at sparking a trade war. “Tanzania will not continue to allow unequal market access to persist at the expense of its people,” he said.

Malawi has said its import ban, introduced in March, is temporary and applies to goods from all countries. “It is a strategic move to create an environment where local businesses can thrive without the immediate pressure of foreign competition,” Trade Minister Vitumbiko Mumba said at the time.

So far, diplomatic efforts to resolve the dispute have yielded no breakthroughs, but Bashe indicated that “fresh talks were ongoing.”

The ban is already impacting trade flows among the three countries — all members of the Southern African Development Community (SADC). On Saturday, Bashe posted a video on social media showing rotting bananas in a truck stalled at the Malawi border, saying it was becoming increasingly hard to tolerate such trade barriers.

Official data shows that Tanzanian exports to Malawi tripled between 2018 and 2023. While Tanzania may find new markets in Kenya, Namibia, or South Sudan, Malawi’s reliance on Tanzanian ports for both exports and critical imports, including fuel and machinery, may complicate its trade outlook.

Neither the South African nor Malawian governments have publicly responded to Tanzania’s announcement.


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