adminCapacity utilisation in industry has risen from the low levels of around 10 percent in 2009 to 57 percent last year, but has since stagnated and failed to reach the 70 percent target for 2012.
Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) president Mr Kumbirai Katsande said funding constraints were the main bottleneck affecting industrial recovery.
He said government and industry should come up with a shared vision to restore productivity, and export competitiveness.
“Low returns on the external markets are a major cause for concern to us.
“We are being under-capacitated by a myriad of factors which include high utility costs, expensive capital, use of old equipment and technology, among others,” Mr Katsande said.
He said although on average capacity utilisation was around 60 percent, in some sectors this was as low as 20 percent.
“With such capacity levels, local products cannot compete with regional goods because when a company operates at low capacity, certain variables, such as fixed costs, are spread over very few items produced,” he said.
Meanwhile the country incurred a trade deficit of $2 billion in the first half of 2012 as a result of the high import bill.
Zimbabwe has become a net importer of goods and services due to the depressed industrial capacity. — New Ziana.
Online Reporter