Manufacturing Industry
Manufacturing industry The manufacturing and service industry sectors are well developed, especially in the Upper Limpopo basin. In South Africa, manufacturing is more diversified than in Botswana where mining and processing of mine products is the most dominant activity. The manufacturing sector is supported by a well-developed infrastructure, including a good road and rail network.

The Middle and Lower Limpopo does not have significant manufacturing except in Bulawayo, where the main manufacturing concerns include food processing, leather tanning, textiles and steel fabrication.

In Botswana, where the dependence of the economy on a few commodities is a source of risk, diversification into manufacturing has been adopted as a prime objective. Much has already been achieved, though progress in manufacturing has been steady rather than spectacular

In South Africa, the manufacturing sector now employs about 16 percent of the economically active population, compared to 14 percent in agriculture and 8 percent in mining. The Gauteng and Limpopo provinces in South Africa are the most industrialised parts of the basin.

In the Mozambican part of the basin, trading and manufacturing activities were seriously disrupted by war. Though manufacturing activities are on the recovery, much of the old manufacturing capacity is still under-utilised. Informal sector trading in food, repair workshops and light furniture, and small-scale family-based enterprises are developing rapidly.