Cotton exports in Mozambique yield less despite production growth

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Cotton exports in Mozambique yield less despite production growth

12:49 CAT | 07 Mar 2025

FILE - For illustration purposes only. [File photo: Tribune]

Mozambican cotton exports yielded 61% less in the first nine months of 2024 compared to the same period last year, despite national production rising, according to official figures consulted yesterday by Lusa.

A report by the Bank of Mozambique on national exports from January to September details that they amounted to US$11.9 million (€11.1 million), while in the same period in 2023 they totalled US$30.3 million (€28.3 million).

“This performance was a consequence of the 8% reduction in the price of cotton fibre on the international market,” the document notes. Despite this drop in the return on exports, cotton production in Mozambique actually grew by 2% in 2024, compared to the previous year, to 24,000 tons.

According to the 2024 budget execution data from the Ministry of Finance, the production of cotton, one of the country’s main crops, fell short of the 40,000 tonnes forecast, meeting only 60% of the target, despite exceeding the 23,516 tonnes of 2023.

According to the same set of figures, cotton production by area in Mozambique grew to 96,523 hectares in 2024, up from 95,097 hectares the previous year.

According to data provided to Lusa in May by the president of the Mozambican Cotton Association (AAM), Francisco Ferreira dos Santos, cotton in Mozambique represented an annual average of US$30 to US$50 million (€28 to €46.7 million) in exports over the last 10 years, and is considered an essential crop. “It has an enormous value chain (…) it is an almost sacred crop, with catalytic effects on the economy and demographics,” the association remarked.

Last year, the Mozambican government granted a subsidy for the purchase of cotton of five meticais (US$0.7) per kilogram in the current campaign, stabilising prices and benefiting 600,000 farmers, in addition to encouraging a “culture of trust”, the minister in charge announced in May.

“This price stabilisation and this subsidy that we are approving will affect around 100,000 families. We are talking about a universe of 600,000 people who will have their income stabilised,” said the then Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development of Mozambique, Celso Correia.

For the 2023/24 campaign, a minimum price of 30 meticais (€0.45) per kilogram was set for the sale of cotton, including the subsidy to be granted by the government, compared to 33 meticais (€0.5) per kilogram and the subsidy of seven meticais (€0.11) in the previous campaign.

The lack of rain in some regions of the country due to the ‘El Niño’ weather phenomenon, the continued abandonment of production in the province of Cabo Delgado, one of the country’s largest producers, and, above all, excess production on the market, have all caused prices to fall and led, for the second year running, to the establishment of a subsidy to maintain producers’ income.

“There is global pressure from countries where subsidies are in place, which is driving down the price of cotton. Too much cotton is being produced and stocks are rising,” explained Minister Celso Correia.

Mozambique accounts for less than 0.5% of global cotton production, in a market led by countries such as the United States, China and India. In the 2022/23 campaign, 37,400 tonnes were sold, with state subsidies of 261.6 million meticais (€3.8 million).

Source: Lusa