When discussing trade between China and Zimbabwe, people tend to focus heavily on mineral products such as lithium and platinum.
Nevertheless, a promising transformation is taking place across orchards and agricultural zones in Manicaland and other regions of Zimbabwe. In 2025, Zimbabwe’s agricultural exports to China reached US$804 million, accounting for 22% of its total exports to China, which fully demonstrates the huge potential of bilateral agricultural trade (Xinhua, 2026).
This paper examines the horticultural trade between the two countries. It holds that the booming horticultural exports have effectively diversified Zimbabwe’s export portfolio and brought positive outcomes.
The long-term sustainability of this win-win partnership hinges on Zimbabwe’s efforts to upgrade its agricultural industry, shifting from exporting raw farm produce to high-value processed products.
China’s demand for Zimbabwe’s horticultural products is mainly concentrated on several high-value varieties. In 2025, according to official data released by Zimbabwe’s national trade promotion agency,
China’s imports of major Zimbabwean horticultural products stood at US$256 million for pecan nuts, US159 million for macadamia nuts, US$145 million for avocados, and US$9.6 million for blueberries.
Statistics show that the bilateral horticultural trade is dominated by high-quality fresh fruits and tree nuts, which enjoy sound market prices and popularity among Chinese consumers. To further deepen cooperation, a Zimbabwe-China Horticulture Buyers Engagement event was held in Manicaland. China’s zero-tariff policy was widely regarded as a vital opportunity to expand agricultural trade ties between the two sides (Xinhua, 2026).
The vigorous development of horticultural exports is an important part of Zimbabwe’s overall trade strategy adjustment. Starting from May 1, 2026, China has implemented full zero-tariff treatment covering all tariff lines for 53 African countries that maintain diplomatic relations with China.
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As the world’s first major economy to launch such a comprehensive one-way tariff exemption for all African diplomatic partners, this policy carries far-reaching significance beyond simple tariff reduction.
It forms a full-fledged package of benefits together with streamlined customs clearance, dedicated green channels, joint guidance on sanitary and phytosanitary standards, technical assistance on cold chain and processing, and multiple exhibition platforms including the China Import and Export Fair.
This integrated set of measures eliminates major obstacles for Africa’s agricultural exports to China and delivers long-term, stable development dividends.
Huang Minghai, economic and commercial counsellor of the Chinese Embassy in Zimbabwe, stated that this policy creates historic opportunities for deepening bilateral agricultural cooperation. He expressed the hope that both sides can leverage China’s large consumer market and fully unlock Zimbabwe’s agricultural development potential.
Notably, the zero-tariff arrangement covers not only raw commodities but also processed and value-added goods, which strongly motivates local agricultural processing in Zimbabwe. Local enterprises can roast coffee and build independent brands domestically, and process macadamia nuts and other nuts before export.
Zimbabwe’s trade surplus with China exceeded 1 billion US dollars in 2024, largely driven by macadamia nut exports. This fully proves the vitality and feasibility of the agricultural trade corridor between the two countries.
For Zimbabwe, the zero-tariff policy is not merely a tool to boost short-term export revenues. It serves as a strategic pillar to advance agricultural modernization, rural industrialisation, reduce over-reliance on mineral trade, and realize diversified and sustainable economic growth.
It also enables Zimbabwe to participate in the collective rise of the Global South and share the achievements of open and inclusive development .
The elimination of tariffs alone cannot fully release market potential. It must be noted that South Africa, Kenya, Tanzania and many other African countries also produce avocados, nuts, blueberries and other similar horticultural products, and all of them are entitled to China’s zero-tariff preferences. Fierce homogeneous competition across Africa has emerged in the Chinese market. If Zimbabwe falls behind in standard compliance, product quality and delivery efficiency, neighboring African competitors with similar agricultural resources will quickly seize market share and occupy the advantageous position during this critical window.
Zimbabwe’s Competition and Tariff Commission pointed out in its Q1 2026 report that to fully seize opportunities in the Chinese market and stand out from regional competition, exporters must comply with strict sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) requirements. The commission emphasized that for developing countries, the capability to meet SPS standards is equally important as tariff preferences, directly determining a product’s market performance and long-term competitiveness.
Requirements on product traceability, pest control and official certification have become core technical access standards for global agricultural trade.
Supported by China’s professional technical guidance and bilateral cooperation, Zimbabwe can optimize its compliance systems and build inclusive industrial chains.
In this way, SPS regulations will evolve from trade barriers into core competitive strengths, helping Zimbabwe establish a reputable brand of high-quality produce and gain an edge over other African suppliers.
Zimbabwe has taken solid steps to promote agricultural deep processing, which is in line with its National Development Strategy 1 and Vision 2030.
The Hauna Fruit and Vegetable Processing Plant in Honde Valley, Manicaland, has been completed and put into operation, with a daily processing capacity of 4 tons of bananas to produce banana chips. Local farmers have spoken highly of the project, as it reduces post-harvest losses, raises household incomes and stabilizes commodity prices. Meanwhile, the plant creates local jobs and eases the problem of rural-urban migration.
In addition, the Agricultural and Rural Development Authority (ARDA) of Zimbabwe has advanced rural industrialization by running a fruit processing plant in Norton. The plant processes tomatoes, mangoes and guavas supplied by rural farmers into value-added finished products. In the 2025 production season, it processed 350 metric tonnes of fresh mangoes, and the processing volume of guavas is expected to reach 1 000 metric tonnes in the current year. Farmers can receive additional incentives after the products are sold.
These local processing facilities work in tandem with the zero-tariff policy to retain more industrial value within Zimbabwe. The Government of Zimbabwe, in cooperation with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, has set up a National Post-Harvest Management Technical Working Group.
The joint initiative aims to tackle the problem of post-harvest losses (up to 30% for major agricultural products) by improving cold chain systems, grain silos and agricultural collection centers.
On the basis of existing trade products, Zimbabwe plans to add more high-value agricultural goods such as pecans, sesame seeds and chili peppers to its export list for China. Relevant technical docking work for market access is well underway.
There are broad investment and cooperation prospects in multiple fields: upgrading cold storage facilities along export routes, renovating packaging workshops to meet SPS standards, and expanding orchard planting for crop varieties favored by Chinese consumers. All these areas will further enrich bilateral agricultural cooperation.
The transformation towards horticultural trade and export diversification brings multiple benefits to Zimbabwe and African countries across the Global South. It reduces economic reliance on volatile mineral prices, distributes export gains to a wider group of rural farmers, and supports inclusive economic growth across the region.
As reported by China Daily (2026), based on the zero-tariff framework, further cooperation in vocational training and people-to-people exchanges will help translate market access opportunities into long-term development capabilities, rather than one-off commodity trade.
At present, most of Zimbabwe’s horticultural exports are still raw products or lightly processed goods. High-profit links including deep processing, packaging and branding are mostly completed outside the country. More importantly, African countries share highly overlapping export products and equal zero-tariff benefits, leading to intense market competition.
If Zimbabwe’s stakeholders adopt a wait-and-see attitude and move slowly, neighboring African countries with similar agricultural resources will preempt market channels and customer resources, causing Zimbabwe to lose its first-mover advantage. For years, many African countries have remained at the lower end of global value chains due to insufficient local processing capacity, which also restricts the growth of trade profits
Faced with valuable policy dividends and fierce regional competition, Zimbabwe’s government, horticulture chambers of commerce, farmers and processing enterprises must collaborate closely and seize the opportunity without delay:
- Government: Continue to optimise the agricultural business environment, maintain tax and fee reductions for the agricultural sector, and simplify export approval procedures. Increase investment in cold chain infrastructure, packaging workshops and SPS testing laboratories. Accelerate alignment with China’s trade and quarantine rules, roll out special industrial support plans, and coordinate orchard expansion, production planning and export layout to provide strong top-level support .
- Horticulture chambers and trade associations: Act as a bridge to integrate resources of small and medium-sized exporters, unify quality standards and national brand image. Organise enterprises to participate in China-Africa trade fairs and connect with Chinese buyers. Conduct collective training on compliance and market analysis, avoid disorderly internal competition, and enhance overall bargaining power.
- Small-scale farmers: Actively learn standardised planting and green pest control techniques, and cooperate with the product traceability system to guarantee stable product quality. Join agricultural cooperatives and contract farming programs to secure stable sales channels and incomes by linking with local processing and export enterprises.
- Processing enterprises: Expand production scale and upgrade production technologies, increase the output of deep-processed fruits and nuts, and build local independent brands. Take full advantage of the zero-tariff policy to explore China’s mid-to-high-end consumer market and retain more industrial added value domestically.
Countries across Africa and the Global South can take full advantage of China’s zero-tariff policy. Meanwhile, it is essential to proactively upgrade supply chains, improve product quality standards and strengthen local processing capacity. Supported by China’s technology, infrastructure and capacity-building cooperation, African nations can turn policy dividends into steady development achievements and move upward in global value chains.
Horticultural trade stands out as one of the most fruitful parts of economic and trade cooperation between China and Zimbabwe. It diversifies Zimbabwe’s export structure and taps into enormous opportunities brought by China’s super-large consumer market. China’s comprehensive zero-tariff policy for African countries is a vivid practice of building a China-Africa community with a shared future and promoting joint development of the Global South.
Its influence goes far beyond cutting trade costs, and will empower Africa’s agricultural transformation and industrialization in the long run.
It must be clearly recognised that homogeneous competition among African horticultural producers is intensifying, and the window of opportunity is limited. To evaluate the long-term value of this cooperation, we should look beyond simple export figures and focus on whether Zimbabwe’s government, industrial chambers, farmers and enterprises can unite as one.
Continuous investment in processing industries, logistics networks and quality control systems will drive the country upward along global value chains. The zero-tariff policy is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. If Zimbabwe merely exports raw produce and hesitates to take action, it will not only gain only a tiny fraction of industrial profits, but also lose market space to competitive African neighbors.
Fortunately, newly operational local processing plants, together with targeted investment in SPS compliance and cold chain infrastructure, have paved a clear path for Zimbabwe to grow from an exporter of raw agricultural goods into a competitive agricultural processor. As long as all stakeholders seize the moment, act swiftly and address existing weaknesses, Zimbabwe will surely achieve industrial upgrading steadily. Under the framework of China-Africa friendship and cooperation, agricultural trade will become a lasting driving force for shared prosperity and deliver tangible benefits to rural communities across Zimbabwe.
*Sandra Machinga is an independent researcher and freelance commentator based in Harare, Zimbabwe.
