Tanzania bans South Africa and Malawi imports as trade row escalates

Hind Al Soulia - Riyadh - MBEYA, Tanzania — Tanzania has banned all agricultural imports from South Africa and Malawi in the latest episode of a growing trade row.

"We are taking this step to protect our business interests. This is business - in business, we must all respect each other," Tanzania's Agriculture Minister Hussein Bashe said on Wednesday, while confirming the move.

South Africa has for years prohibited the entry of bananas from Tanzania. Malawi, which shares a border with Tanzania, has blocked imports of flour, rice, ginger, bananas and maize from its northern neighbour.

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

South African exports to Tanzania of various fruits, including apples and grapes, 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.

"It is a strategic move to create an environment where local businesses can thrive without the immediate pressure of foreign competition," Malawi's Trade Minister, Vitumbiko Mumba, said at the time.

Tanzania's agriculture minister said Malawi's move had "directly affected" his country's traders and described the restrictions as "unfair and harmful".

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

"No Tanzanian will die from a lack of South African grapes or apples," he said, adding that, "we are taking these actions to protect Tanzanian interests".

South Africa and Malawi governments are yet to comment on the ban.

The disagreement appears to already be impacting trade flows within the three countries - all members of the Southern African Development Community (Sadc), a regional political, security and economic body.

On Saturday Bashe posted a social media video showing a pile of rotten bananas in a truck stranded at the border with Malawi, saying it was hard for Tanzania to tolerate the trend.

Malawi has become an increasingly important market for Tanzanian goods in recent years, with exports trebling between 2018 and 2023, according to official Tanzanian figures.

But while Tanzania can seek alternative markets such as in Kenya, Namibia and South Sudan, Malawi may find it harder to get its goods out of the country.

Much of its exports go through the Tanzanian port of Dar es Salaam, as well as essential imports such as fuel and machinery.

Losing access to Dar es Salaam would likely force Malawi to move shipments through the Mozambican ports of Beira and Nacala - options that may be more expensive.

Bashe argued the ban was not meant to provoke a trade war but to protect Tanzania's interests.

"Tanzania will not continue to allow unequal market access to persist at the expense of its people," he said. — BBC