Industrial production in the country fell 2.2 per cent year-on-year in the first quarter to 31.1 billion meticals (483.4 million dollars), according to government data on budget execution, as reported by the Lusa news agency.
According to the news report, the execution represents 21.6 per cent of the target set by the Executive for the whole of 2024, which is 144 billion meticals (2.2 billion dollars), resulting from a ‘sample made up of 337 companies’.
‘The first quarter is difficult to assess production because it is very fickle, given that it is a period of equipment maintenance, collective holidays, waiting for raw materials to arrive, calamities, among others,’ the report explains.
The biggest year-on-year drop was in the tobacco industry, which fell 46.2 per cent compared to the first three months of 2023, to 7 million meticals (108.5 thousand dollars). This was followed by the wood and cork industry, which fell 39.1 per cent to 39 million meticals (605 thousand dollars).
The basic metallurgical industry continues to have the greatest weight, with 11 billion meticals (170.6 million dollars), a year-on-year drop of 4.7 per cent. Next came the food industry, with 7 billion meticals (108.5 million dollars), which fell by 4.4 per cent, and the beverage industry, which increased by 0.4 per cent to 5.7 billion meticals (88.4 million dollars).
Maputo province continued to concentrate industrial activity, accounting for 56.8 per cent of the total in the first quarter, followed by Nampula (23.1 per cent) and Sofala (10.1 per cent). On the opposite side are the provinces of Cabo Delgado (0.5%), Niassa and Inhambane (both with 0.1% of the total), the report says.
