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According to foreign trade data from the Bank of Mozambique, the country imported a total of USD 58.1 million in cooking oil in the first quarter of 2023, purchases that fell by more than 40% in the first three months of this year, to USD 34.7 million.
According to official data, Mozambique’s cooking oil imports almost halved in the first quarter of the year compared to the same period in 2023 after the end of the VAT exemption.
According to foreign trade data from the Bank of Mozambique, the country imported a total of USD 58.1 million in cooking oil in the first quarter of 2023, purchases that fell by more than 40% in the first three months of this year, to USD 34.7 million.
Mozambique’s government said in March that the end of the VAT exemption on oil and soap, applied from the end of 2023 after 15 years, is to be maintained, claiming that domestic companies have not taken advantage of the opportunity.
Entrepreneurs in the sector went public in December to say that the end of the VAT exemption regime in 2024 for these national products would jeopardize the future of these industries, encouraging the importation of cheaper products without the same quality, in addition to the increase in prices that has since been seen for these basic food basket products.
Last May, Mozambican businessmen advocated a support program to increase the incorporation of national raw materials in the oil and soap industry, products that have lost their VAT exemption since 31 December 2023, assuming that this would save USD 300 million in foreign purchases.
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President of the Confederation of Economic Associations of Mozambique (CTA), Agostinho Vuma said that this would reduce imports by around USD 300 million, benefitting the local raw material industry. He further said that this step would give a further fillip to the domestic investments. Vuma pointed out the constraints caused by the withdrawal of the VAT exemption on soaps and cooking oil at a level meeting.
