Maputo, Aug. 7, 2025 (Lusa) - The Mozambique Cereals Institute (ICM) has brought forward by almost two months the start of exports of black-eyed/pigeon peas to India, which buys almost all of Mozambique's production, starting immediately due to the quantities available.
According to a statement issued at the end of July by the ICM, which is supervised by the Ministry of the Economy, exports of this legume are regulated by an agreement between the two countries, “based on India’s needs” and on the quantities exported in the previous year.
In this communication, to which Lusa had access on Thursday, it was stated that exports in the 2025/2026 fiscal year could only begin after 30 September for “strategic reasons” such as protecting domestic supply at the peak of the harvest, preventing “speculation and predatory practices” and to allow for “logistical organisation and prior inspection” and to ensure the introduction of the certificate of origin.
However, the ICM, in an official letter dated 4 August, also consulted by Lusa and sent to the Customs Service, cancels the previous instruction: “For reasons objective to the process of controlling stock variations in the warehouses of exporting companies, a check was carried out in which we found that considerable quantities were available for export”.
The same letter authorises ‘with immediate effect on 5 August’ the export of black-eyed peas by authorised companies, using the certificate “bearing the designation of the Ministry of the Economy”.
In 2023 alone, Mozambique exported more than 230,000 tonnes of black-eyed peas, 90% of which went to India, under the 2023-2026 memorandum of understanding between the governments of Mozambique and India.
In 2024, these exports were marked by controversy involving the ETG conglomerate, one of the country's leading exporters of black-eyed peas, which on 16 October demanded in an arbitration court that the Mozambican state pay more than €100 million in compensation for losses due to the judicial seizure of the firm's assets in a dispute over the legume, which was also held in a port in the north of the country.
In May, the conglomerate had threatened to resort to international arbitration courts over the dispute it had been having for months with RGL over the export of the beans.
The position is contained in a letter sent by ETG to the Mozambican attorney general's office (PGR), in which the conglomerate, which has been operating in Mozambique for 25 years, recalled that it had been trying for several months to recover a shipment of agricultural products, including boer beans, worth US$55 million (€47.3 million) seized at the port of Nacala, in the north of the country, as part of this dispute.
Lusa reported on 1 February that the Nacala-Porto court had decided “not to follow” the Mozambican Attorney General's Office, which had ordered the case to be closed on the dispute over the export of black-eyed peas to India between Royal Group Limitada (RGL) and its competitor ETG, which led to the seizure of the conglomerate's agricultural products.
“The ETG Group has filed a request for arbitration claiming compensation in excess of US$120 million [more than €103.5 million] against the Republic of Mozambique for the state’s role in the expropriation of ETG products, in violation of investor rights in the country,” the Mauritian business group said in a statement in October.
The conglomerate accused the Mozambican state of orchestrating and facilitating the illegal expropriation of assets, violating the norm of “fair and equitable treatment”, as well as resorting to coercion and harassment of workers.
On the other hand, the Mozambican government “did not guarantee ETG’s right to export goods without any restrictions”, it continued.
The company said that on 17 January 2024, it filed a notice of dispute against the Mozambican government for alleged illegal actions in relation to its assets and commercial activities and, on 13 May 2024, it again questioned the authorities on the same matter, but without “any serious attempt by the Mozambican Government to resolve the matter”.
PVJ/AYLS // AYLS
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