Packaging materials affect local firms’ competitiveness
Ministry of Trade says locally produced products are expensive because of lack of packaging materials on the domestic market.
Speaking during a Buy Malawi Sales Promotion on Thursday in Blantyre, the ministry’s principal trade officer Ezron Chirambo said this is affecting the Buy Malawi Strategy, which seeks to stimulate local production and growth by inspiring consumers to embrace locally produced goods and services.
“Manufacturers are having problems to have right packaging materials forcing them to import the packaging materials. This is making their products more expensive,” he said.
Chirambo said the ministry has been working on mindset change to reverse the love for imported products.
“The objective of the promotion is to promote and expose Malawian locally produced products to consumers and distributors for easy market access,” he said.
The BMS was launched on March 18 2016 to build competitiveness of enterprises to grow the economy and improve welfare of all Malawians.
The Malawi Government developed the Buy Malawi Strategy to reduce the ballooning imports bill and close the country’s wide trade deficit in the short to medium-term.
However, Malawi’s trade balance—the difference between the monetary value of a nation’s exports and imports over a certain time period—has continued to worsen since the initiative was launched in 2018.
National Statistical Office (NSO) figures show that while Malawi imports rose from K1.97 trillion in 2018 to K2 trillion in 2020, exports declined from K621.4 billion to K546.5 billion during the same period under review.
This pushed the trade deficit from K1.32 trillion in 2018 to K1.43 trillion in 2020.
Figures from the Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM) show that Malawi spends an average of $250 million (about K206 billion) on imports.
Buy Malawi Strategy was set up to enhance competitiveness of local firms to stimulate local production and promote industrialisation and close the widening trade gap.
In an interview, some of the exhibitors faulted lack of awareness on the initiative resulting in poor patronate of the event.
Usingini Coffee salesperson Robert Saka said while the initiative has helped promote many local products, publishing such exhibitions would help increase patronage and open more markets for local manufacturers.
He said: “Business is good with the help of the Buy Malawi Strategy.
“If they invest much in publicising the events, it would increase patronage of the local products.”
Speaking separately, Sungold Food Processing Limited head coordinator Corus Chadewa said the firm has benefited from the initiative.
“People have becoming at our pavilions to appreciate what we produce,” he said.
