Categories: Stories

Trade between Zimbabwe and UK down to £126 million last year

Trade between Zimbabwe and the United Kingdom has been on the decline over the past three years dropping from a peak of £461 million in 2018 to £126 million last year, the lowest in a decade.

British Minister of State for International Trade Penny Mordaunt told Parliament that Zimbabwean companies enjoyed duty free and quota free exports for products including blueberries, peas and tea.

The United Kingdom was at one time Zimbabwe’s second largest trading partner after South Africa but it is now 138th.

Trade between the two countries rose from £239 million in 2016 to £407 in 2017 and on to £461 before dropping to £205 in 2019 and £199 in 2020.

According to the UK Department of International Trade, the five top exports to Zimbabwe were:

  1. Road vehicles
  2. Cars
  3. Specialised machines
  4. Office machines
  5. Live animals

Top five imports from Zimbabwe were:

  1. Vegetables and fruits
  2. Coffee, tea and cocoa
  3. Jewellery
  4. Works of art
  5. Metal ores and scrap

See also British companies that were in Zimbabwe at independence

(173 VIEWS)

Charles Rukuni

The Insider is a political and business bulletin about Zimbabwe, edited by Charles Rukuni. Founded in 1990, it was a printed 12-page subscription only newsletter until 2003 when Zimbabwe's hyper-inflation made it impossible to continue printing.

Recent Posts

Is it true that 4 million Zimbabweans went without food on several occasions last year?

At least four million people in Zimbabwe reported that they had gone without food on…

November 5, 2026

Did you know that four of the world’s largest banks are all in China?

Four of the world’s largest banks are all in China. Assets of the Industrial and…

October 15, 2026

Zimbabwe one of the 27 countries in the world where the richest 0.1% has more wealth than the bottom 80%

Zimbabwe is one of the 27 countries in the world where the richest 0.1% of…

October 2, 2026

Zimbabwe third among the least free countries in SADC

Zimbabwe has been ranked third among the least free countries in Southern Africa but it…

May 24, 2026

Why I had a girlfriend two months after my wife’s death- Take 1

I had always considered it a curse for a wife to die before her husband.…

May 18, 2026

Why I had a girlfriend two months after my wife’s death

This is a true story about the challenges and loneliness I faced when my wife…

May 17, 2026