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MANUFACTURING 

MANUFACTURING OVERVIEW

  • Namibia’s long term development goal is to be “a prosperous and industrialized country, developed by her human resources, enjoying peace, harmony and political stability” by 2030. The manufacturing sector plays a strategic role in economic development and is a component of industry that presents greater opportunities for sustained growth, employment, and income inequality and poverty reduction. Manufacturing activities in the country are concentrated in the subsectors of meat processing, fish processing, other food and beverages, and mineral beneficiation. The latter largely represents the smelting of copper and zinc ore, and the cutting and polishing of rough diamonds.

  • Manufacturing has been identified as an economic priority in the National Development Plan as well as in the “Growth at Home” strategy with “Promotion of local value addition” being the most important feature in the strategy. Namibia’s Industrial Policy aims at improving export competitiveness, increasing domestic production and creating an enabling environment for industries. 

  • The manufacturing sector plays a strategic role in economic development and is the component of industry that presents greater opportunities for sustained growth, employment and poverty reduction, in Namibia’s ambitions to industrialize. While the size of the domestic market is small, the potential of regional markets of its membership to SACU and SADC ensures access to a market of over 55 million and 300 million people, respectively. The Namibian Government has also signed various preferential free trade agreements with a number of countries, including the SADC region. The country therefore has the potential of engaging in the production of other manufactured products which are currently not being produced, as this allows for potentially larger market access for locally produced products.

MANUFACTURING OVERVIEW

  • The manufacturing sector grew by 3.4% in 2024 and 3.9% in 2025. Growth in this sector is to be driven by expected improvements in beverages, leather and related product subsectors.

  • Namibia’s manufacturing sector is constrained by a small domestic market and is also vulnerable to negative impacts from the primary industries. The industry is mainly concentrated in Windhoek’s Northern, Southern, Prosperita and Lafrenz industrial areas. Beverages, grain and other food products, meat and fish processing, textiles and clothing, packaging and plastics, cosmetics, cleaning materials and pharmaceutical products are among the most important subsectors. There are also light industrial areas in Swakopmund and Walvis Bay.

  • Despite its small domestic market, Namibia’s access to markets in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) with a population of over 330 million people creates opportunities for the export of locally manufactured products. The country’s strategic location on Africa’s southwestern coastline is complemented by an excellent road infrastructure which is linked to its neighbouring countries by four transport corridors. The Trans-Oranje Corridor links the port of Walvis Bay to the Northern Cape in South Africa, while the Trans-Kalahari Corridor links the port of Walvis Bay to Botswana and South Africa. The Walvis Bay- Ndola-Lubumbashi Development Corridor provides a link from Walvis Bay to Zambia, Zimbabwe and the Democratic Republic of Congo, while the Trans-Cunene Corridor provides access from Walvis Bay to Oshikango in northern Namibia and southern Angola.

  • To encourage the development of domestic beneficiation, the Namibian cabinet announced in June 2023 the prohibition of the export of certain critical minerals such as unprocessed crushed lithium ore, cobalt, manganese, graphite and rare earth minerals.

MANUFACTURING CONTRIBUTION TO GDP

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THE MANUFACTURING SECTOR IN NAMIBIA

  • Meat & Fish Processing

  • Chemicals

  • Beverages

  • Minerals Value Addition

  • Leather and Textiles

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