Imports of food products fall by 17.9 percent

Imports of food products in the country registered a drop of 17.9 percent during the first two quarters of 2024.

The data appears in the document presented at the ordinary meeting of the Council of the Republic, held this Wednesday, August 21, in Luanda, under the guidance of the President of the Republic, João Lourenço.

According to the document, the main goods that contributed to this reduction were palm oil with (79.8 percent), cooking oil (67.1 percent), chicken thighs (34.3 percent) and rice with 8.4 percent.

According to the Minister of State for Economic Coordination, José de Lima Massano, who presented the results on food security and national production, in addition to other goods, sugar imports also registered a drop of 56 percent in the period under analysis.

“We have a sharp drop in the variation in the monthly consumer price index. Therefore, in the last three months, the fall continues, prices rise at a slower pace, which results from a greater supply, especially of national products. As we saw, on the import side, we continue to check their substitution”, he highlighted.

Regarding the impact on the foreign exchange market, José de Lima Massano stated that the reduction in food imports in 2023 generated direct savings of around US$940 million.

With a view to increasing levels of food and nutritional security, the Government is developing initiatives that allow around 1.2 million families to receive technical support to increase productivity levels, supported by around seven thousand field schools.

In this context, 400 producers from the small business sector were supported within the scope of the Commercial Agriculture Development Program in the provinces of Cuanza Sul, Cuanza Norte, Huambo, Bié, Huíla and Malanje, in addition to the reformulation of agrarian institutes with support from the European Union.

The document also reveals that, for the 2024/2025 Agricultural Campaign, the Executive will make available around 200 thousand tons of fertilizers, of which a batch of 41 thousand have already been acquired, as well as 12 thousand tons of seeds for programs to support family farming.

In turn, the Agrarian Development Support Fund (FADA) is providing around two thousand motor cultivators or traction equipment to cooperatives on a credit basis.

At the moment, said José de Lima Massano, the Campaign Agricultural Credit is available through commercial banks and the sovereign guarantee mechanism to support national production has already been regulated.

The Government predicts global growth in the agricultural sector of 8.3 percent in the 2024/2025 cycle, allowing it to accelerate the goal of reducing food insecurity, which should affect less than 21 percent of the population by the end of the five-year period.

The Minister of State for Economic Coordination assured that the milling industry has shown some robustness, with emphasis on the production of cereal derivatives.

“Soybean oil had a very sharp growth of 151 percent. Therefore, we stopped importing the final product on a large scale”, he highlighted.

The Gross Domestic Product (GDP), in the first half of this year, registered growth that reveals a trajectory of greater dynamism in the economy, driven by the agricultural sector.

The Minister of State stated that GDP continues to grow, and in the fourth quarter of last year it already registered a growth of 6.2 percent and in this first quarter of 2024 it grew again at 4.6 percent.

As for livestock production, according to 2023 results, the country has a degree of internal coverage of 99.9 percent for goat meat, 84.3 percent for beef, 26.4 percent for pork and 18.2 percent for chicken.

For the fishing sector, the degree of coverage of domestic production was 102.7 percent.

Source: https://www.governo.gov.ao/noticias