Online Reporter
Martin Kadzere
LOCAL bus manufacturer AVM Africa’s capacity utilisation has dropped to between 5 and 10 percent, weighed down by weak demand due to an influx of imports, managing director Mr Jacob Kupa has said.
AVM Africa has the infrastructure to produce 25 commuter buses per month, but the country’s oldest and largest bus manufacturing plant is operating at a fraction of its installed capacity due to cheap imports.
Mr Kupa acknowledged that while the duty-free Statutory Instrument was good for the increased availability of imported buses, drives competition and lowers travel costs for passengers, it had left local manufacturers highly vulnerable and unable to compete with low-cost imports.
This revelation comes ahead of the inaugural Zimbabwe Industrialisation Conference & Expo (ZICE 2026), scheduled for July 23–24 at the HICC in Harare, which will bring all issues affecting the domestic industry under the spotlight.
Organised by the Ministry of Industry and Commerce in partnership with think tank Africa Economic Development Strategies (AEDS) and ZimTrade, ZICE 2026 aims to fast-track Zimbabwe’s transition to a competitive manufacturing economy.
In that context, Mr Kupa noted that the current operational challenges in the automobile industry underscore the need for closer policy coordination to safeguard and support the country’s industrialisation drive.
“A special instrument that came out about three months ago says buses for transporting people are now duty-free,” Mr Kupa said. “Once they remove duty, it basically means that we remain very vulnerable.
“It makes it very difficult for us to compete.”
The scenario has seen private transport operators completely bypass local manufacturing capacity.
Private bus operators intend to import 700 buses for local routes, with an initial batch of 200 units already en route from foreign suppliers. Because bus manufacturing is highly capital-intensive, AVM operates strictly on an order-by-order basis.
Mr Kupa said without confirmed off-takers, production stalls.
