Chronicle EditorLovemore Zigara, Midlands Correspondent
HOUSING developments across the country have resulted in increased demand for Sino Zimbabwe Cement Company (SZCC)’s cement.
There have been massive housing developments across the country as the nation strives to reduce its housing backlog, which stands at around 1.2 million.
Under Zim-Asset the Government seeks to ensure that 313 000 houses are built by 2018.
The managing director of SZCC, a Gweru-based cement manufacturer, Mr Yong Wang told Business Chronicle that the company had realised a 10 percent increase in sales volume in the second quarter compared to the same period last year.
“Business is still depressed because of a number of factors chief among them the liquidity constraints we are experiencing in the market.
“There has also been the smuggling of cheap cement imports especially from South Africa,” he said.
“However, there has been progress, which is mainly due to the housing developments that are underway and this has given us a lot of business. We have so far increased our sales by about 10 percent and we hope the outlook will further improve so that we can increase our capacity utilisation.”
Apart from housing developments, Mr Wang said infrastructural rehabilitation that Government is undertaking such as the repair of bridges damaged by Cyclone Dineo induced floods, has also contributed to the increased demand for cement.
SZCC’s increased turnover in the second quarter, is in sharp contrast to the first quarter of this year when the company sales declined by 50 percent.
This was mainly due to incessant rains experienced at the end of last year and the first quarter of this year. Mr Wang said he was optimistic that some of the country’s big infrastructure projects such as the construction of the new Parliament Building in Mt Hampden, the rehabilitation of the Hwange Thermal Power Station and the dualisation of the Beitbridge-Chirundu Highway would stimulate growth in the cement industry.
SZCC is the third largest cement producer in the country after Pretoria Portland Cement and Lafarge.
The Gweru-based firm produces 400 000 tonnes of cement per year and has a 25 percent market share.
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Bongani Ndlovu
Online Reporter