• Burundi
  • Resources
  • Market Information
  • Access to Markets

Information Guide

Existence of two main economic sectors:

Agricultural sector

  • Dominates in the economic sector of Burundi
  • Represents alone more than 40% of the gross domestic product (GDP);
  • Contributes to nearly 90% of exports; and
  • Employment over 90% of the workforce.

main products

  • Coffee
  • Tea.

Mining industry

To date, research shows that the country has (u):

  • Nickel,
  • Cobalt,
  • Gold,
  • cassiterite,
  • Wolfram,
  • Tin, etc.

Information on Market Access in Burundi

Law No. 1/01 of January 16, 2015 revising Law No. 1/07 of April 26, 2010 on the Commercial Code governs traders, commercial acts and commercial litigation.

In its article 3, it is stated that freedom of trade includes freedom of enterprise, that is to say the right for any natural or legal person to engage in commercial activity.

This article gives the right to any merchant to conduct his business as he sees fit while complying with the law and the right to use all fair means to attract customers.

Requirements

  • Any economic operator carrying out an import activity must immediately obtain a registration number from the Single Window for Business Creation.
  • Cooperate with the Ministry responsible for trade, which regularly records the various elements of the cost price of imported products and those produced locally.

Two main sectors

The agricultural sector has real potential for sustainable and equitable growth, likely to maintain per capita production in real terms, and to support economic recovery and poverty reduction programs.

Other agricultural opportunities

There are also opportunities for exploiting “non-traditional” products, in this case vegetables, tropical fruits and out-of-season flowers .

The export of non-traditional products experienced a surge between 1992 and 1993 but which could not be exploited following the outbreak of the crisis. More than 20 years later, it is still recognized that non-traditional agricultural sectors represent a strong potential for export growth and employment.

Currently, exporters of these products have opportunities offered by the markets of the sub-region or other international markets.

Export restrictions are administered in accordance with Community Customs Codes

The mining sector

  • Burundi has considerable resources, including three nickel deposits whose reserves are estimated at around 260 million tonnes
  • Resources are still under-exploited due to the lack of infrastructure such as energy and developed means of transport