Mozambique wants to export processed forest products to retain economic value

Mozambique wants to stop exporting semi-processed wood and export finished products to retain value, jobs, and wealth in the country, the Minister of Agriculture said Thursday. “We cannot continue to export planks, boards, and semi-processed products. This is exporting potential, exporting jobs, exporting wealth that should stay in the country,” said the Minister of Agriculture, Environment, and Fisheries, Roberto Albino.

The minister spoke in the district of Dondo, Sofala province, during the launch of the 2026 forestry campaign and the presentation of new export procedures, where he stated that the Government wants to end the export of semi-processed wood, a strategy that involves transforming the forestry sector into an industrial base, oriented toward the internal production of goods with greater added value. “What the Government wants is different. We want Mozambique to export furniture, doors, windows, parquet, finished products; we want to export value, export industry, export Mozambican intelligence,” he stressed.

According to the government official, this paradigm shift, in which the aim is to process wood locally, is based on three fundamental pillars, namely, legality, transformation, and prosperity, aiming to make the sector more competitive and sustainable. Albino recognized persistent challenges in the sector, including delays in the distribution of revenue to communities from forest exploitation, as provided for in the legislation, which generates distrust and local tensions. “This is a real problem and it has real consequences. It weakens the relationship between operators and communities, generates distrust, and creates local tensions,” the minister stated, guaranteeing that the Government is committed to solving the problem.