Beira, city and seaport, eastern Mozambique, capital of Sofala Province, on Mozambique Channel (an arm of the Indian Ocean), at the mouth of the navigable Pungwe River. It is connected by rail with neighboring countries and serves as a port for Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and central Mozambique. The principal exports are sugar, tobacco, corn, cotton, sisal, chrome and copper ore, coal, and lead. The chief industries are cotton milling, food processing, ship repair, and tourism. Before 1942, when the province of Manica e Sofala was incorporated into Mozambique, Beira was the capital of the territory of the Portuguese-chartered Mozambique Company. Population (1990 estimate) 299,300.
