Mozambique
As a least-developed country (LDC), Mozambique is a beneficiary of the EU's "Everything but Arms" (EBA) arrangement. The World Bank classifies Mozambique as a low-income economy with a per-capita income of $623 in 2023. Total EU imports from Mozambique amounted to about €2.0 billion in 2023; and EBA preferential imports to about €1.0 billion. Mozambique also trades with the EU under the Economic Partnership Agreement with six countries of the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
What is the EBA?
The EBA arrangement covers all LDCs as classified by the United Nations. This arrangement enables duty-free and quota-free access for all products originating in LDCs except for arms and ammunition. Unlike beneficiaries of the Standard GSP and GSP+, LDCs are not excluded from the scheme if they benefit from other preferential arrangements or agreements with the EU.
At a glance: EU preferential imports from EBA beneficiary countries (2023, € million)
33.6M (2023)
Population
Presidential Republic
Government
5.4% (2023)
GDP Growth
7.1% (2023)
Inflation
$ 21.0B (2023)
GDP
Facts about Mozambique's economy
Economic Growth
Although growth rates only slowly recovered after covid-19, Mozambique could look back on a decade of significant economic expansion with an average annual growth of about 7%; growth in 2023 reached 5.4%.
Export Products
Mozambique's most important export products are coal, natural gas, and aluminium. Important agricultural export products are raw tobacco, sesame seeds and raw cane sugar.
Trade Partners
Mozambique's most important trading partners are South Africa (17% of total trade in 2023), South Korea (16%), the EU and India (11% each). Most imports originate from South Korea and South Africa while India and the EU are the most important export markets.
Economic Structure
Agriculture is the mainstay of Mozambique's economy and consists mainly of smaller, family-run operations. Corn, cassava, beans, rice as well as different oilseeds and vegetables are the most important crops. Furthermore, Mozambique possesses considerable mineral resources, including iron ore, gold, bauxite, graphite, and the world's largest reserves of tantalite. On the industrial side, Mozambique has one of the world's largest aluminium smelters which also contributes to the external sector.
Usage of EBA Preferences
About 53% of the EU's total imports from Mozambique made use of EBA preferences in 2023. The preference utilisation rate, which represents the ratio of preferential imports to GSP eligible imports, was 79% in 2023.
Trade with the EU
Total trade with the EU summed up to €2.3 billion in 2023. With a share of 11% of total trade, the EU is Mozambique's third most important trading partner and ranks second as a destination for Mozambique's export products.
Mozambique and the EU
Imports from Mozambique by product section (2023, € million)
Imports from Mozambique over time (€ million)
MOZAMBIQUE AND THE EU GSP
Economic Impact
67%
The large majority of Mozambique's exports to the EU were eligible for EBA preferences in 2023.
79%
Mozambique's preference utilisation rate in 2023.
88%
Share of zero-duty imports from Mozambique.
Preference utilisation and export diversification
EU imports from Mozambique (€ million)
Preference utilisation (%) vs. total eligible imports (in € million)
Mozambique is among largest beneficiary under the EBA arrangement. EBA-eligible imports from the country fluctuated around €1 billion until 2020. They dropped in 2021, only to rebound very strongly in 2022 (part of the imports in 2022 were shipments that could not be made in 2021 due to the pandemic), and 2023 was another strong year. Since 2015, EBA preference utilisation rates were close to 100%, and this hardly changed when the country ratified the EU Economic Partnership Agreement with SADC States (so now Mozambique is eligible for both EBA and EPA preferences) - except in 2023, when it dropped to 79%. Two of the three major export groups, aluminium, tobacco, and fish products, benefit from duty-free access to the EU market. Coal products as another important export product already benefit from zero third country duties.
The largest product sections under EBA (€ million, 2023)
The graph shows that imports from Mozambique under the EBA remain highly concentrated on metals, which account for over 90% of preferential imports. Tobacco, fish, prepared food, and agricultural products are also imported using EBA preferences.
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
As a beneficiary of the EBA, Mozambique is not obligated to ratify any conventions to be able to benefit from preferential access to the EU market. Still, Mozambique upholds a very high level of ratification of fundamental conventions. It has ratified 14 out of 15 core conventions on the protection of human rights and labour standards. The country also shows strong commitment related to environmental protection and good governance and has ratified 12 conventions which focus on these two areas.
Core international conventions on human rights and labour standards
Ratified
- Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (1948)
- International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (1969)
- International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1976)
- Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (1981)
- Convention Against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (1987)
- Convention on the Rights of the Child (1990)
- Convention concerning Forced or Compulsory Labour, No 29 (1930)
- Convention concerning Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise, No 87 (1948)
- Convention concerning the Application of the Principles of the Right to Organise and to Bargain Collectively, No 98 (1949)
- Convention concerning Equal Remuneration of Men and Women Workers for Work of Equal Value, No 100 (1951)
- Convention concerning the Abolition of Forced Labour, No 105 (1957)
- Convention concerning Discrimination in Respect of Employment and Occupation, No 111 (1958)
- Convention concerning Minimum Age for Admission to Employment, No 138 (1973)
- Convention concerning the Prohibition and Immediate Action for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour, No 182 (1999)
Not Ratified
- International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights (1976)
Additional Conventions
- Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (1973)
- Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer (1987)
- Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal (1989)
- Convention on Biological Diversity (1992)
- The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (1992)
- Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (2000)
- Stockholm Convention on persistent Organic Pollutants (2001)
- Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (1998)
- United Nations Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs (1961)
- United Nations Convention on Psychotropic Substances (1971)
- United Nations Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (1988)
- United Nations Convention against Corruption (2004)
EU-Mozambique Bilateral Development Cooperation
DG INTPA
Access all info about EU-Mozambique relations on the International Partnerships website.