Dar es Salaam: The Zimbabwe Government has shifted its imports and export activities to Tanzania's principal port from South Africa and Mozambican ports due to enhanced services at Dar es Salaam docks. The Bank of Tanzania (BoT's) Monthly Economic Review of March this year which was released recently, said the improved services at Dar es Salaam Port have attracted more hinterland countries to use the facility.
This means that the Zimbabwean government, which largely depends on South Africa and Mozambican ports, has now started using Dar es Salaam port for its imports and exports.
"The progress will simply mean that a good number of goods destined for Zimbabwe will pass through the port, hence increasing revenue for the Tanzanian government," the central bank review said.
Besides Zimbabwe, the report said, other African countries which use Dar es Salaam port are Zambia, Malawi and the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique, Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda.
"Good performance in transportation receipts was mainly on account of the increase in volume of transit goods due to improved port efficiency and road infrastructure to the neighboring countries," the review said.
It showed that during the year ending February 2012, the average world market prices of major commodities went up tremendously due to a number of factors. For instance, the rise in prices of coffee was largely attributed to the decline in coffee production following unfavourable weather condition in Columbia coupled with the rise in demand for coffee in emerging markets such as China and India.
The review said that the price of cotton rose largely due to strong demand for the produce in China. The price of cloves also went up following a strong demand for the crop coupled with low cloves production in Indonesia after an outbreak of a clove disease.
There was also a decline in export value of tobacco owing to a decrease in export unit price, the review added.
On the other hand, it said the export value of cloves increased significantly following a surge in the price of cloves on the world market.
During the period under review, the unit price of cloves increased to $13, 097.8 per tonne compared to an average unit price of $3, 572.7 per tonne following the supply shocks in the world market.
The BoT report said the value of non-traditional exports was $3, 850.8m, compared to $3, 358.7m recorded during the year to February 2011, largely attributed to a rise in gold prices on the world market and the export volume.
In the same period, the prices of crude oil and white petroleum products increased mainly due to supply concerns in Iran following the EU embargo on its exports.
The price of gold rose by 5.4 % to $1, 742 per troy ounce as investors continue to perceive gold to be a safe investment.
Dar es Salaam port is the Tanzania principal port with a rated capacity of 4.1m (dwt) dry cargo and 6.0 m bulk liquid cargo.
