Zimbabwe - Overseas Development Institute

high of 22% i n 1938/39 to as low a f i g u r e as 4% by 1983. There
i s , however, one extremely p o s i t i v e feature recorded i n Figure
17: the progressive d e c l i n e i n both the s i z e and share of
manufactured imported f o o d s t u f f s i n t o the country. The value of
manufactured f o o d s t u f f s has d e c l i n e d p r o g r e s s i v e l y from over 20%
of t o t a l gross output of the sub-sector at the s t a r t of the
Federal period to a minute 1% by the end of the UDI period, with
l i t t l e change recorded i n the pace of import s u b s t i t u t i o n between
the Federal and UDI periods. In absolute terms and at current
p r i c e s , the value of manufactured food imports f e l l from $7.8 mn
i n 1952/53 to an average of $7.1 mn over the l a s t s i x years.
Perhaps the most important question these r e s p e c t i v e trade
to output trends r a i s e i s the extent to which the drop i n export
shares and i n manufactured food imports arose as a r e s u l t of
higher domestic costs of manufactured food products v i s - a - v i s
imports. If the Jansen a n a l y s i s of s t a t i c comparative advantage,
using 1982 data, i s any guide, then the answer, as reproduced i n
Table 13, below, i s that i n general the sub-sector remained
competitive with a l t e r n a t i v e imports, i n d i c a t i n g that both the
expansion of the sector and the reduction i n import dependence
were not achieved at the cost of s u b s t a n t i a l domestic subsidies
Figure 17. External Manufactured Trade in Foodstuffs in Relation to
Gross Output of the Foodstuffs Sub-sector, 1938/39-82/83.
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3 8 / 9 4 2 / 3 4 6 / 7 50/1 5 4 / 5 5 8 / 9 6 2 / 3 6 6 / 7 70/1 7 4 / 5 7 8 / 9 8 2 / 3 '
2 Yr Avs, 1 9 3 8 - 6 3 (Various Yr^)
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Source: as for Figure 5.