Business & Tech News
Tanzania Halts all Agricultural Imports from South Africa and Malawi
Yesterday (24 April) saw an escalation of a regional trade war with Tanzania banning the entry of all agricultural imports from Malawi and South Africa in response to what it sees as restrictions on some of its exports. South Africa has, for a while, prohibited the entry of bananas from Tanzania. While Malawi last month blocked imports of flour, rice, ginger, bananas, and maize from neighbouring Tanzania, resulting in the retaliatory action taken. Tanzania’s Minister of Agriculture, Hussein Bashe, confirmed the implementation of the ban and commented that
“We are taking this step to protect our business interests…, we must all respect each other,”. The issues highlight the inconsistencies and fragility of the current African Continental Free Trade Area agreement, of which all three countries have ratified their countries as participants. At this point, previous diplomatic attempts to resolve the situation have failed, however, the minister indicated that there are plans for fresh diplomatic talks to be held.
MTN Hit By Cyber Attack:
The largest mobile operator in Africa, MTN, reported a cybersecurity breach late yesterday. The group said that while no core operational systems were affected, some personal data had been compromised. The cybersecurity incident resulted in unauthorized access to the personal information of some customers in specific markets, but the scope and which markets were affected were not clarified. This incident follows other cybersecurity challenges for MTN, such as a critical vulnerability in its Nigeria self-service portal uncovered in March 2025, which could have exposed sensitive customer data but was not linked to this breach. At the time of the announcement, there was no indication that customer accounts or financial wallets were directly compromised.
Spanish Fishing Pirates Creating Poverty in African Regions:
Environmental groups ClientEarth and Oceana have filed a lawsuit in Madrid, claiming Spanish authorities failed to act on repeated illegal fishing violations along the Senegal and Guinea-Bissau coastlines. The suit states that at least eight Spanish fishing vessels reportedly switched off their tracking systems, making their movements invisible at sea.
This would constitute a direct breach of EU rules, which require constant monitoring to prevent illegal fishing. Despite the evidence, Spanish officials declined to investigate, saying they lacked jurisdiction outside EU waters.
The lawsuit argues that loopholes in Spanish law are helping rogue operators avoid accountability. With fish stocks dwindling, local communities are facing job losses, hunger, and forced migration. The social activist groups say that Spain needs to overhaul its fishing regulations to close legal gaps, in order to prevent a crisis developing in one of the world’s most vulnerable regions.
Business & Market News Shorts:
- The UK chancellor, Rachel Reeves is to meet with US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessant today and has indicated that she understands what US President Trump is addressing with his tariffs. Reeves indicated that the UK could lower tariffs on US car imports from their current 10% to 2.5% as part of a wider deal, and said the government was working “flat out” to secure a trade deal with the US.
- China is considering exempting some U.S. imports from its 125% tariffs and is asking businesses to identify goods that could be eligible in a clear signal that Beijing is concerned about the economic consequences and impact of its trade war with Washington. The announcement caused gold futures to drop, with a risk-off sentiment affecting the safe-haven metal price.
- Intel plans to challenge Nvidia’s dominance in AI processor chips, according to Intel’s new CEO, Lip-Bu Tan, in his first analyst conference call since taking leadership control of the group earlier this year. Tan said he plans to search through Intel’s existing products to look at where they could be improved and developed further to make them fit-for-purpose for emerging developments in the AI market, such as robotics and AI agent developments.
Markets by Numbers
Currencies:
Currency markets are indicating the US Dollar has gained against most main global currencies, and is currently up against the Euro, at 1.13534, and trading slightly stronger against the Pound at 1.33031. The Yen is trading at 143.50 to the dollar currently. The rand has dropped overnight, amid budget uncertainty and conflict in the coalition government, and is trading at R18.82 to the US dollar currently.
Commodities:
- Gold futures prices have dropped further today and are currently trading at $3306 per ounce.
- Copper prices are trending more than -1,4% lower today, and currently at 4.8120.
- Silver futures prices are trading downwards this morning and are at 33.407 currently.
- Platinum futures have fallen by over -1% today, and at $955.40 currently, while Palladium prices are also trending over -1% lower and at $923.00 currently.
- Brent Crude Oil prices have moved upwards and are at $66.86, with WTI also trading upwards at $63.15.
- Cocoa futures continue its upward momentum today, and at $9418.94 per ton.
- Coffee futures prices are trending upwards and are at $408.18 currently.
Crypto Currencies:
- Bitcoin prices are pretty flat today and are currently trading at $93593
- Ether prices are trading upwards today and at $1778 currently.
- $Trumpcoin has modulated today and is currently trading at $12.49
(All prices quoted at approximately 08H50 – Central African Time)
Other Breaking News in Africa Today
Deadly Congo Mine Collapse:
At least 10 people were killed in a gold mine collapse in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the rebel-appointed governor of South Kivu province said on Thursday. M23 rebels have seized east Congo’s two biggest cities since January in an escalation of a long-running conflict rooted in the spillover into Congo of Rwanda’s 1994 genocide and the struggle for control of Congo’s vast mineral resources.
Congo’s government and the M23 military group released a pledge yesterday, after talks in Qatar to work towards peace, raising the hope that the years of violence and thousands of needless civilian deaths could finally have come to an end, mainly over a dispute of natural resources in the area. Douglas Dunia Masumbuko, the M23-appointed South Kivu governor, confirmed that the death toll at the Luhihi mine had reached 10 but could, however, still rise given the number of injuries. He said that the incident was due to “uncontrolled construction and poor maintenance of gold wells” in the area.
