The Sunday Mail
It would be unfair for me to discuss the standard of locally-produced goods as it is up to consumers to determine what suits their quality scales.
Mr Mike Bimha
I know, though, that some products can compete globally while others are not up to scratch.
The half-baked are, perhaps, a result of procurement problems.
Nonetheless, local products should meet World Trade Organisation and Standards Association of Zimbabwe specifications.
It’s not a one-way type of trade: We set standards for ourselves and for imported goods.
Bureau Veritas tests certain products before they enter our borders, checking their quality, health and environment standards, among things.
That’s what Zimbabwe should do if it is to be competitive regionally.
We can’t protect industry forever given the problems we have experienced.
We can only support them.
Therefore, we need to compete with international products as competition is here to stay.
Products will continue to come into the country, and such goods could be cheaper than the ones we manufacture.
But we can’t force the consumer to buy our products just because they were made here.
We should demonstrate that Zimbabwean products are of a good standard and are worthy to be bought.
Government would want to help in this regard, with ZimTrade and Saz assisting both big and small producers to meet set standards.
Cabinet has acceded to setting up the National Competitiveness Commission whose legislation is being fine-tuned.
The Commission will not just look at standards, but also at impediments to competitiveness like legislation, permits, bureaucracy, corruption, pricing, utility tariffs and licences.
These are the issues that body will be seized with.
We believe having a commission dedicated to the matter will speed things up and feed into our ease/cost of doing business thrust.
These two sides of the same coin can be monitored, thereby helping us meet the standards we so desire.
Let’s look at pricing; it is not just determined by company management. No. Other factors like cost build-up should also be considered.
Raw materials and transport are in the mix, with goods transported by rail being generally cheaper than those ferried by road.
It, therefore, goes without saying that enablers should be available and reasonably priced if we are to become competitive.
Money, too, should be reasonably priced.
For instance, if I borrow money for business at a rate of 20 percent and someone else borrows the same amount at 3 percent, our pricing will be different.
So, how can one be competitive if interest rates are high?
What measures do we introduce if we can’t do anything about interest rates, for instance?
Such issues come into the fold.
We also have to look at our efficiencies, labour issues. . . how much does it cost to produce certain goods?
Someone in the region or elsewhere in the world could produce that same product at a much cheaper price.
The Commission will look at the ability to bring these issues and more into the fold, and Government’s ability to grasp them and make appropriate policy decisions.
Our ministry continues to recommend removal of certain products from the general import licence list.
This means there will be products one cannot import; products that are produced in sufficient quantities locally and are of the stipulated quality.
An import licence for particular products will only be issued if we are satisfied that local manufacturers of those goods are unable to meet demand. It is something we do time and again, but we can only do that if we get information from producers regarding their ability to meet demand and quality standards.
Some countries dump their products here to create demand.
We must support local industry as not doing so will affect our people’s employment. If companies are viable, we will keep our jobs. If, say, we have a shortage of cooking oil due to insufficient soya beans, we will licence a local cooking oil manufacturer to import the soya instead of getting a merchant to import cooking oil.
Honourable Mike Bimha is the Minister of Industry and Commerce. He shared these views with The Sunday Mail’s Livingstone Marufu in Harare last week.
