adminLovemore Zigara Midlands Correspondent
KWEKWE-based dairy processor Dendairy has set sights on broadening its exports in the region and is eyeing Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Dendairy manufactures an array of dairy products among them long life shelf milk, yoghurts, sour milk, ice cream and fruit juices. The dairy processor is currently exporting some of its products to Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique. Dendairy director Mr Darryl Archibald said the company had also targeted Namibia, but trade barriers complicated everything.
“We are looking at Tanzania and a little bit into Namibia to export some of our products. However, it is very hard to get into Namibia and South Africa because of the depreciation of the South African Rand in recent years,” he said.
“They also have a lot of non-tariff barriers to entry because when you export the products there they come up with any litany of excuses. We do not have such challenges with Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique. We are also trying our luck with DRC,” said Mr Archibald. He said they recently launched a new company – Victoria Fruit Company which will specialise on fruit juices.
“We have established a sister company called the Victoria Fruit Company, which is doing 100 percent fruit juices and it is doing Citro and we are going to be launching more products under that banner,” said Mr Archibald.
“We have introduced new products onto the market like the Citro range of fruit juices, which is in 100 ml and 200 ml sachets. The response has been tremendous, and we are going to bring on board the Citro 1 litre, which we are confident will do well on the market,” he said. Dendairy has taken advantage of a 25 percent levy introduced by Government to curb the influx of dairy imports to recapitalise its operations.
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