• Zimbabwe’s identified steel exports rose 224% to US$150.3 million by July 2026
• New steel capacity is moving from import substitution into measurable regional export earnings
• Rail, regional tariffs and market absorption now shape the next stage of sector growth

Harare- Zimbabwe has exported about US$150.3 million across four identifiable iron and steel product lines between January and July 2026, up from approximately US$46.3 million during the comparable period last year, as new domestic steelmaking capacity moved beyond replacing imports and began building an export market across the region.

The increase of approximately 224% was spread across pig iron, semi-finished steel and finished long products, providing the clearest trade-account evidence yet that Zimbabwe's restored steelmaking capacity is creating export receipts rather than remaining primarily an industrial-capacity story.

Hot-rolled bars and rods in irregular coils generated about US$43.1 million during the seven months from an almost negligible comparative base. Another bars and rods category rose to approximately US$43.6 million from US$9.9 million, while pig iron increased to US$30.5 million from US$6.7 million. Semi-finished products of non-alloy steel generated another US$33.2 million.

The four lines therefore added approximately US$104 million to Zimbabwe's export receipts within seven months. Their scale remains small beside gold, nickel and tobacco, although the source of the growth gives steel a different place within the export basket: Zimbabwe is converting locally mined inputs through an integrated industrial process before selling part of the output externally.

The July trade composition provides clearer evidence of where the new steel output is beginning to find markets. Iron, steel and related products accounted for 7.5% of Zimbabwe’s US$371.0 million exports to SADC in July 2026, equivalent to roughly US$27.8 million for the month. Within COMESA, the concentration was even higher, with iron and steel products accounting for 30.6% of Zimbabwe’s US$28.8 million exports, or about US$8.8 million. Steel also represented 7.5% of exports to AfCFTA markets, placing the sector among Zimbabwe’s more material manufactured export lines into the continent.

The same data also shows that the domestic market has not eliminated its requirement for imported steel products. Iron, steel and related articles still represented 6.3% of Zimbabwe’s US$542.9 million imports from SADC in July, equivalent to about US$34.2 million. The coexistence of rising exports and continued imports is consistent with a market differentiated by product type, specification and downstream industrial requirements. For Manhize and other local producers, the next phase therefore extends beyond raising primary output, increasing the range of products manufactured locally would determine how much of the existing import bill can be displaced while export volumes continue to grow.

Dinson Iron and Steel Company's Manhize plant sits at the centre of that change. The Tsingshan-controlled operation has installed annual steel capacity of around 600,000 tonnes and has disclosed that approximately 60% of current output is sold into external markets. The company  is considering an expansion to about 1.8 million tonnes annually, three times current capacity.

The timing of the increase, Dinson's operating scale and its disclosed regional sales, however, place the plant at the centre of Zimbabwe's transition from a large steel importer toward a producer supplying both local and foreign customers.

That transition has already changed the industrial policy problem. Zimbabwe spent years trying to restore domestic primary steelmaking after the collapse of ZISCO left manufacturers, construction companies and mining operations reliant on imported material. Government subsequently tightened licensing requirements on selected steel imports, including bars, rods and structural sections, as local capacity came on stream.

The trade account shows the other side of that policy. Once domestic production exceeds what Zimbabwe can immediately absorb, steelmaking requires external customers, competitive freight and access to regional markets at prices that preserve mill utilisation.

That becomes increasingly important if Manhize proceeds with its proposed 1.8-million-tonne expansion. At current operations, external markets already take the majority of Dinson's output. An additional 1.2 million tonnes of annual capacity would substantially increase the volume that either has to be consumed by Zimbabwe's construction, mining and manufacturing sectors or moved across its borders.

Regional demand provides room for that strategy. The World Steel Association expects African steel demand to grow by 3.8% in 2026 and 4.6% in 2027, supported by infrastructure, urbanisation and economic diversification. The opportunity is therefore developing alongside Zimbabwe's new productive capacity.

Access to that demand is becoming commercially harder at the same time. South Africa, the region's largest industrial economy and an important market for Manhize, increased duties across a range of steel products in May as Pretoria responded to weak domestic demand, mill closures and rising imports. South Africa has continued adding safeguards and anti-dumping measures across parts of its steel market during 2026. Some measures preserve regional preferences or explicitly exclude Zimbabwe, so they should not be treated as a blanket tariff on Zimbabwean steel. The broader policy direction still places market access and rules of origin higher in the economics of regional steel sales.

Transport presents the other constraint. Dinson has been discussing rail infrastructure with the Mutapa Investment Fund as higher production raises the volume of iron ore, coal and finished steel that must move through Zimbabwe's bulk freight system. A proposed 50-kilometre rail link between Mvuma and Manhize remains listed by the COMESA Regional Investment Agency at project-preparation stage, with no feasibility study recorded.

Road haulage can move early production, although an integrated steel complex operating toward 1.8 million tonnes requires lower-cost bulk logistics if Zimbabwe wants its products to remain competitive deeper into regional markets. Freight therefore moves directly into the export margin: an inefficient domestic transport leg can consume part of the cost advantage created at the furnace.

Zimbabwe is also attempting to revive ZISCO under the Mutapa Investment Fund, potentially adding another major steelmaking platform to an industry that only recently regained primary production. That places a higher threshold on future steel policy. New capacity has to be assessed alongside domestic demand, downstream manufacturing, railway capacity and the export markets required to keep furnaces economically utilised.

The US$150 million generated through the four steel lines by July establishes an early benchmark. The sector has moved from promised capacity into measurable trade receipts, with new product categories contributing foreign currency that scarcely existed in the comparative period.

Continued growth in bars, rods, semi-finished products and other downstream steel categories, alongside rising domestic consumption, would deepen the economic return from Zimbabwe's iron ore beyond primary production. If output expands toward 1.8 million tonnes, rail volumes, domestic steel absorption and regional export receipts become the measurable operating tests of whether the country's new steel capacity can develop into a durable industrial value chain.

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