Business Reporter
Zimbabwe’s manufacturing sector has registered remarkable growth since 2018, expanding 121,6 percent to an $8,2 billion industry and outperforming key economic projections, according to Industry and Commerce Minister Mangaliso Ndlovu.
Speaking on the sidelines of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce Strategic Planning and Review Workshop in Bulawayo on Friday, Minister Ndlovu highlighted the rapid structural transformation of the country’s industrial landscape under the Second Republic.
Manufacturing accounts for 6,2 percent of Zimbabwe’s Gross Domestic Product, according to the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (ZimStat).
“Let me give you one example of the manufacturing sector,” Minister Ndlovu said.
“The manufacturing sector in 2018 was valued at around US3,7 billion. We had projected that by 2025 it would close at US$5 billion. So, we were projecting over five years, close to 8 percent growth.
“By the end of 2025, the manufacturing sector had reached US$8,2 billion.”
Contrasting current achievements with historical baselines, Minister Ndlovu noted that the sector’s current output comfortably exceeds the entire national economy inherited at Independence in 1980.
“By the time we got our independence, the GDP (Gross Domestic Product) of this country, the entire economy of Zimbabwe as we inherited it from Rhodesia, from (Ian) Smith.
Pre-independence, when the manufacturing sector contributed 25 percent of GDP, the entire economy was valued at US$6,65 billion, Minister Ndhlovu noted.
“The manufacturing sector alone today is worth (circa) US$8,2 billion.”
Looking ahead to national economic targets, Minister Ndlovu voiced confidence in sustained momentum.
“We projected it would have surpassed US$12 billion by the time we get to 2030. We have more than doubled the value of the manufacturing sector in six years.
“And we expect that the GDP of this country by 2030 will have surpassed US$100 billion,” Minister Ndlovu added.
The minister explained that the industrial foundation of the country has fundamentally evolved beyond the historic ecosystem once anchored by the former state steel maker, ZISCO.
“We, of course, were anchored on the iron and steel of ZISCO (Zimbabwe Iron and Steel Company). What we have now is perhaps three, if not more, times bigger,” he emphasised.
“And it then means if they want to reconnect with what we had in the foundry and steel ecosystem, they have to be prepared to double what we had in 2008 when ZISCO collapsed.”
Zimbabwe produces between 50 000 and 60 000 tonnes of iron and steel products each month.
Steel export earnings reached US$137 million in the first half of 2026, surpassing the US$92,1 million recorded for the entirety of 2025.
Zimbabwe’s historical peak crude steel production reached 1 million to 1,2 million tonnes annually during its industrial prime in the late 1980s and 1990s, driven by ZISCO.
Through the US$1,5 billion Dinson Iron and Steel Company (DISCO) plant in Manhize, completed in mid-2024, the Chinese-owned steel manufacturing giant is currently in phase one of production.
DISCO’s phase one has reached 100 percent utilisation, topping out at a capacity of 600 000 tonnes per year.
This means total output is roughly half of the historical peak.
The company is implementing an expansion to phase two, which will lift capacity to 1,2 million tonnes annually (effectively matching the historical peak).
Zimbabwe’s industrial surge is also taking root in traditional industrial hubs like Bulawayo, driven by targeted economic policies.
The Zimbabwe Investment and Development Agency (ZIDA) continues to operationalise Bulawayo’s Special Economic Zone (SEZ) status to attract capital.
“What I know is that Bulawayo has been designated a special economic zone for years now. And ZIDA has been dealing with how to tailor-make the incentives and support mechanisms just to make sure that industries in Bulawayo can fully explore these benefits,” Minister Ndlovu said.
He emphasised that modern capital inflows are shifting the nature of local enterprise: “I’m able to say that it is because of these pronouncements that we have begun receiving huge investments into Bulawayo. People need to accept that the new industry in Bulawayo might not necessarily be the same as the industry of yesterday.”
“From a manufacturing perspective alone, Bulawayo 2025 to 2026 would have received not less than US$100 million in investments.
‘‘This is very new,” he noted, adding that he plans to visit several newly established factories to assess progress firsthand.
While acknowledging positive strides across regions, Minister Ndlovu urged local stakeholders to accelerate their efforts to maximise the current economic trajectory.
“We will be engaging Bulawayo. We believe they need to be more aggressive than they are.
‘‘We are seeing good progress in other areas in the manufacturing sector. We think Bulawayo can do a little bit better than they are doing. But there is progress all the same,” he concluded.
