Good afternoon. Does domestic tile production matter to Mozambique? It matters to the government. Secretary of state for trade António Grispos is talking about increasing the duty charged on imports of tiles and other goods in the same category, as well as introducing a specific import duty for the product, possibly at 20% according to newspaper Canal de Moçambique.
This seems like a big move considering that Mozambique appears to have only one tile factory, run by majority Chinese-owned company Safira Mozambique Ceramic (and that factory only opened in 2024). There will inevitably be suspicion that the desire to protect Safira is linked to the minority shareholding in the business linked to the ruling Frelimo party (something which already caused the factory to be attacked during the post-election protests of 2024-5). But even if that is a factor, there is a wider issue in play here. The government believes in using import duties to protect domestic production, just for tiles but generally.
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Mozambique relies heavily on imports of just about everything. The Safira factory, which was built with a capacity to produce 100,000 square metres of tiles a day, currently produces only 27,000 a day, according to Canal, and production has been reduced due to competition. Part of the problem is that so many goods are imported across the border by informal traders, mukheristas, who dodge paying import duties. President Daniel Chapo’s government has made it a priority to support domestic production and reduce reliance on imports, in order to create jobs and generate tax revenue for the government, which constantly struggles to pay its bills.
