Story by Bruce Chahwanda
LOCAL trade promotion body, ZimTrade, says the participation of local firms at the just-ended 2025 Fruit Logistica in Germany has been a success, with new orders having been clinched, generating business worth over US$20 million.
They were three days of hard work with various meetings scheduled for the 30 local firms that were participating at this year’s Fruit Logistica, while others had impromptu engagements with a view to secure new markets and expand horticultural orders across the globe.
As the premier horticultural exhibition concludes, local companies are satisfied with their order books, pledging to double their effort to ensure they meet market demands.
ZimTrade Director Operations Mr Similo Nkala said the exhibition was a success.
“It has been a very successful mission at Fruit Logistica 2025. We have received a lot of inquiries from countries like Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and the rest of Europe. The key thing for us is that this will go a long way in increasing our exports which generated US$142 million in 2023,” he said.
Business generated at this year’s exhibition is in line with targets in the Horticultural Recovery and Growth Plan which seeks to increase horticulture exports to US$300 million by 2030.
“We believe that our participation at this exhibition will go a long way towards achieving the target. Citrus, berries, horned melon, sweet potatoes, avocado oil, and chillies were the major products that attracted much attention.
“There is huge potential for the sector, and, as a country we have been pushing heritage-based products such as magaka (horned melon) we had someone from Egypt who wanted to export them to Turkey and madhorofiya. We are in the right direction,” said Mr Nkala.
Zimbabwe’s horticultural sector has recorded tremendous growth over the years and continued participation at international exhibitions widens the country’s market share.
