The Sunday Mail
LOCAL industries are failing to produce goods due to the prevailing economic environment forcing some entities to import and package products mostly from South Africa, a Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) official has said.
CZI president Mr Charles Msipa said some companies were facing serious financial problems resulting in importation of finished products for resale at exorbitant prices on the local market.
“Many businesses are in economic distress due to lack of affordable financing and this is forcing many industries to import goods from South Africa. The US dollar is also not affordable to many businesses,” he said.
Msipa said a number of consumer products in retail outlets were South African imports because the local manufacturing industry was failing to meet demand due to low capacity utilisation.
“We are lacking competitiveness because of the bad state of our economy, the South African Rand is also cheaper compared to the US dollar therefore many industries are importing products from South Africa to make profit,” he said.
Unilever Zimbabwe managing director Mrs Juliet Ziswa said petroleum jelly, Vaseline lotions and other products were imported from South Africa and repackaged for the local market.
“We are working on the pricing so that we can match that of our products being sold in South Africa as our prices are higher compared to others in the region,” she said.
An economist, Mr Kingston Kanyile, said industries should be capacitated to produce finished products, warning that the huge import bill would paralyse the economy.
“Our industries should be making their products rather than importing as this causes a deficiency in our economy.
“These industries are importing products and exporting the US dollar, which is not adding any value to our economy,” he said.
Mr Kanyile suggested that importation of products for repackaging should be criminalised because local firms were cheating consumers.
Buy Zimbabwe Business Development Executive Mr Alois Burutsa said they would start inspecting industries to ensure companies package locally manufactured products.
“These industries are taking money out of the country and this is leading to the liquidity crunch. As Buy Zimbabwe, we are going to do an inspection and see which of the industries are importing products and repackaging them when they are supposed to manufacture them,” he said.
The economy requires about US$10 billion to recapitalise the industries, according to the CZI.
