Mozambique - Foreign trade
There is a considerable amount of unofficial trade along the borders as well as unreported fish exports to Asia. In April 1997, Mozambique began a three-year contract with Crown Agents, a private British company, to take responsibility for the regulation of foreign trade in order to reduce smuggling and corruption.
Shrimp account for the largest portion of Mozambique's export revenues (26%). Other exports include electric current (23%), fruits and nuts (15%), cotton (7.3%), and sugar (2.1%). 1997, Mozambique's imports were distributed among the following categories:
| Consumer goods | 9.6% |
| Food | 22.3% |
| Fuels | 11.6% |
| Industrial supplies | 22.3% |
| Machinery | 17.3% |
| Transportation | 16.8% |
| Other | 0.1% |
Principal trading partners in 1998 (in millions of US dollars) were as follows:
| COUNTRY | EXPORTS | IMPORTS | BALANCE |
| Spain | 43 | 11 | 32 |
| South Africa | 42 | 738 | -696 |
| Portugal | 29 | 75 | -46 |
| United States | 25 | 50 | -25 |
| Japan | 17 | 23 | -6 |
| Italy | 14 | 14 | 0 |
| India | 13 | 33 | -20 |
| Zimbabwe | 9 | 121 | -112 |
| United Arab Emirates | n.a. | 47 | n.a. |
| Saudi Arabia | n.a. | 45 | n.a. |