Angola’s manufacturing sector is expanding, driven mainly by food and beverage factories, although it continues to face significant structural constraints. Shortages of raw materials, a lack of skilled labour and financial difficulties remain key obstacles to growth.
Oil, however, remains by far the dominant product in the national industry and the country’s main export commodity, reinforcing the economy’s heavy dependence on “black gold”.
Overall industrial production maintained its upward trend, increasing by 14% in the first quarter of this year compared to December 2025, according to calculations by Expansão based on the monthly bulletin of the Industrial Production Index (IPI) published by the National Statistics Institute (INE).
This performance was mainly driven by the manufacturing sector, which grew by 42.9% and contributed 5.9 percentage points to the overall result. The segment accounts for 17.5% of the country’s industrial output and is led by the food and beverage industry, which represents 10.8% of total production.
Other activities, such as the manufacture of petroleum products and chemicals (3.3%), beverages and tobacco (2.5%), metallurgy (1.9%), paper pulp and printing (0.8%), as well as textiles, clothing, footwear and wood (0.1%), continue to make a limited contribution.
Despite the growth in manufacturing, the sector continues to face several challenges. The shortage of raw materials, the lack of skilled labour and difficulties in accessing financing remain the main constraints to its development.
Source: Expansão
