Fish and shrimp exports from Mozambique see further increase

Exports of fish and shrimp from Mozambique have risen further over the last two years, following a significant drop in 2008, the deputy Fisheries minister, Gabriel Muthisse said in the city of Beira.

According to Mozambican daily newspaper Diário de Moçambique, Muthisse said that each year Mozambique exported an average of between 6,000 and 7,000 tons of shrimp, worth between US$90 and US$100 million.

The European Union, Muthisse said, was the biggest export market for fishing products, and he noted that exports also went to neighboring countries, such as South Africa.

Muthisse noted that the cost of production was the greatest constraint, particularly the constant rise in fuel prices.

“Another constraint can be found in the lack of savings made by Mozambicans to be able to make use of the most appropriate fishing technologies, and thus most of the fishing industry is controlled by foreign investors,” he said.

Muthisse’s visit aimed to find ways of driving an increase in production of fishing products in Sofala province, which is considered to be one of the three main fishing provinces of Mozambique, along with Zambézia and Nampula.