A decade of one story, now joined by another
Mozambique has spent a decade being defined by one story. It may be time to pay attention to another. The first is well known: the discovery of vast offshore gas reserves in the Rovuma Basin attracted TotalEnergies, Eni and significant long-term capital, positioning Mozambique as one of Africa's most consequential energy stories, as reported by IT News Africa and lifestyleandtech.co.za.
That trajectory was interrupted by the insurgency in Cabo Delgado, which led TotalEnergies to declare force majeure in April 2021 and suspend construction. The story is moving again. TotalEnergies lifted force majeure in November 2025 and resumed construction in January 2026, with first LNG production now targeted for 2029. Eni's Coral South FLNG has been producing since 2022. Mozambique projected record foreign direct investment of USD 5.9 billion for 2026, underpinned by these developments. The energy story is recovering, not over. But it is no longer the only investment story that matters.
Investors looking again at Mozambique are finding something else worth examining: an opportunity the LNG story has spent a decade overshadowing. It sits not in the Rovuma Basin but in the country's ports, its transport corridors and its position at the junction of Southern and East Africa. Mozambique's geography, transport corridors and its raw material endowment position it as a potential manufacturing and logistics platform for Southern Africa, according to the two outlets. That geography is structurally difficult for any competitor to replicate.
Geography changes the equation
Mozambique occupies a unique place on the African continent. With more than 2,700 kilometres of Indian Ocean coastline and borders with six neighbouring countries, it serves as a natural gateway between global markets and the landlocked economies of Southern Africa, the two reports state.
Through the Maputo, Beira and Nacala corridors, goods move between ports on Mozambique's coast and landlocked markets such as Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi and beyond. The three corridors are at different stages of development and serve distinct hinterlands but together they form a central part of Mozambique's proposition.
The Port of Maputo is the country's largest and busiest, handling 30.9 million tonnes in 2024. Operated by DP World, the port is the focus of a USD 165 million investment to double container capacity, according to the same sources. Persistent congestion at South Africa's Durban and Richards Bay ports is already prompting Botswana, Zambia and Malawi to reroute trade through Mozambique. The Lobito Corridor in Angola is emerging as a significant Atlantic-facing route for the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia, complementing rather than replacing Mozambique's Indian Ocean connections.
Resources and infrastructure as a foundation
Beyond transport, Mozambique's graphite, aluminium and rubber, combined with its corridor position and lower labour costs, provide a foundation for industrial advantage, the reports say. The Beluluane Industrial Park near Maputo is an established industrial zone with direct port access, and it houses the Mozal Aluminium Smelter. Aluminium produced at Mozal is already being exported to the European Union under the Southern African Development Community Economic Partnership Agreement.
Energy is another pillar. Mozambique generates a large share of its electricity from hydropower, anchored by the Cahora Bassa facility, and business electricity tariffs run well below both the African and global average, according to the two articles.
Trade agreements open markets
Mozambique's trade is anchored in wider regional frameworks, including the African Continental Free Trade Area and the Southern African Development Community. Under SADC, qualifying goods can benefit from preferential access to a regional market of more than 250 million people, provided they meet the relevant rules of origin, the reports explain.
The EU-SADC Economic Partnership Agreement, applied by Mozambique since 2018, gives Mozambican goods duty-free, quota-free access to the EU market. The UK-SACUM EPA replicates that access for the United Kingdom following Brexit. In total, Mozambique has preferential or duty-free access to the EU, the UK and an African market of 1.4 billion people, the sources note.
The legal framework for investment is mixed. The bilateral investment treaty between South Africa and Mozambique, signed in 1997, has not yet entered into force. The China-Mozambique BIT, signed in 2001, is in force.
Policy signals and the path ahead
The recent launch of a public-private partnership process to attract investment into vehicle assembly is one example of a broader effort to identify Mozambique's role in regional value chains, the reports state. This comes with an honest constraint: Mozambique's domestic market is relatively small across most manufacturing sectors, and any successful industrial strategy must be regional in scope. With a population of 33 million, the country's scale is limited, but its position as a gateway to landlocked neighbours offers a way around that limitation.
For investors and manufacturers assessing Southern Africa as an industrial destination, Mozambique deserves more careful attention, the articles conclude. The energy story is recovering, but the country's broader industrial potential is now coming into focus.