eBusiness Weekly
Ishemunyoro Chingwere
Local scrap metal artist will be presented with an opportunity to break into the lucrative international market when Zimbabwe hosts an international scrap metal arts buyer.
The buyer is expected to arrive in the country today and will meet artists on a visit that has been facilitated by the country’s national trade development and promotion organisation — ZimTrade. The buyer’s visit and networking with artists feeds into Government’s plan to grow exports and cut the trade deficit.
Quoting Trade Map, ZimTrade says global exports of arts and crafts totalled a staggering US$27 billion in 2017 before surging to US$37 billion in 2018.
Zimbabwe, despite its potential as a leading global arts and crafts exporter, remains in the shadows of fellow African exporters among them Kenya and Nigeria.
In 2018, local exports from the trade stood at a measly US$2 million.
“ZimTrade has facilitated for an international scrap metal arts buyer to visit Zimbabwe from March 13-20 to meet with metal sculptors who have potential to supply pieces made with recycled metal,” ZimTrade said in a statement.
“The buyer is scheduled to meet artists from Harare, and they are expected to structure supply contracts as well as agree on conditions necessary for local pieces to perform well in the European market.
“The buyer has experience in importing scrap metal sculptures from countries such as Kenya and UK and has found interest in the Zimbabwean market following aggressive marketing campaigns by ZimTrade,” reads the statement.
The scrap metal arts industry is one of the solutions to environmentally friendly scrap metal disposal as it makes use of recycled metal.
The visit, which is the first of its kind, is expected to culminate into long term supply contracts that will see an improvement in the exports of arts and crafts in Zimbabwe.
The prospects, ZimTrade notes, are further boosted by a rising demand for metal sculptures on the global market.
Co-ordinated programmes like these are expected to play a part in the formalisation of small businesses. The local arts and crafts industry is particularly dominated by informal players characterised by artists operating individually and this has been sighted as one of the reasons behind low export volumes.
In future, the development and promotion organisation has also undertaken to conduct training as well as provide the requisite educational needs to formalise artists’ businesses.
The training will encompass key business strategies like pricing, export marketing, trade negotiations, branding and financial management.
