Manufacturing report expected next week

THE Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) will present the 2018 manufacturing survey findings next week with hints of a positive shift in capacity utilisation levels for the period under review.

Traditionally, the report is presented between October and November but it had to be deferred to this year owing to the period that preoccupied business activity during the election period.

ZBCtv quoted CZI chief executive officer Mr Clifford Sileya hinting that the expectation was for a positive improvement in capacity utilisation on the 2017 figure of 45,1 percent to at least 48 percent.

Mr Sileya said that results for the period under review, which captures the 12 months from September 2017 to August 2018 show a positive outlook reflective of the environment for the period under review.

According to CZI, investment by local firms towards increasing capacity in 2018 was among the factors that informed the survey findings.

The expected improvement in capacity utilisation for the period under review was still below the 50 percent mark which translates to high costs per unit.

An economist Mr Zacks Murerwa was quoted saying:
“These are issues that can be circumvented through addressing the issues that have weighed capacity performance such as foreign currency shortages and costs on raw materials.”

Other processes that the industry noted have to be expedited to support local industrial growth was the finalisation of the one stop investment centre which would be critical in buttressing the open economy thrust.

Meanwhile, Industry and Commerce Minister Nqobizitha Ndlovu has said the manufacturing sector was poised for positive growth this year, riding on expanded capacity and new investments made in 2018.

He has indicated that Government would continue to support the productive sector by creating a favourable business environ-ment to consoli-date domestic and foreign investment.

Minister Ndlovu also noted that some of the challenges facing local industry were coming from the progress and achievements made last year where production levels improved remarkably and that meant increased importation of raw materials. — ZBCtv/Business Chronicle