This work provides the assessment of rural small-scale traders’ expectations on the levels of harvests and trade. It was found that the 2004/05 agricultural season will not be different from the previous one. It was also found that the market opportunities for staple crops will depend on the effective demand in traditional markets of each crop in the country and in the Southern Africa region as a whole. In general, the nominal and real farm-gate prices are slightly higher than in the last season, and some maize exports to Malawi were already observed from Zambézia, Tete and Niassa provinces.