Ashly DhaniBulawayo Bureau
BULAWAYO textile firm, National Blankets, is targeting to produce about one million superior quality blankets per annum expected to compete favourably in the local and export market.
When the firm reaches full production capacity, it expects to churn out two million blankets.
National Blankets is yet to resume production.
Officials say resumption of production hinges on accessing funding through the Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) which is targeted to be used to acquire raw materials for the company to start production.
National Blankets operations remain on halt following a delay in accessing funding, which has seen the firm spending the first half of the year without production.
The textile company resumed operations early 2021 after managing to dodge liquidation having come out of judicial management after shareholders paid all the creditors their dues, which ran into millions of dollars.
The company had temporarily ceased production in late 2021 after being denied a tax clearance by the tax authority over an estimated US$800 000 debt, which was later on settled.
National Blankets is one of the companies in the textile industry, which was set to benefit from the SDRS funds.
Recently, Minister of Finance and Investment Promotion, Professor Mthuli Ncube, said policy fundamentals and regulations are now in place for the disbursement of the SDRs funds which are meant to boost production in different value chains.
Zimbabwe was allocated SDR 677 million equivalent to US$958 million by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which is part of the SDR’s General allocation of US$650 billion that was released in 2021 to all IMF member countries.
It is from these resources the Treasury channeled part of the funds towards supporting key value chains such as horticulture, industry retooling, tourism and smallholder farming irrigation systems.
A total of US$80 million was set aside for the productive sector funding and the Government, since last year, was inviting local businesses to start accessing the money to boost the country’s economy.
National Blankets business development manager, Shepherd Nyambirai, told our Bulawayo Bureau that the company has relatively new technology for the production of blankets and funding to acquire other raw materials which was the missing link.
“After accessing the funding, we are anticipating to produce at least one million blankets during the first year which translates to 50 percent of capacity utilisation.
Capacity is expected to reach full throttle during the third year,” said Nyambirai.
“About 20 percent of the output will be exported and the ratio is expected to increase as we regain our export market.”
Asked about the market for their products, Nyambirai said there is a huge demand in the country as they have some unique features that place them at a competitive advantage over imported products.
“There is an adequate market because our product is different from the cheap imports. The imports are all knitted blankets while our product is woven. Woven blankets have superior technical characteristics as compared to knitted blankets such as dimensional stability after several washes, durability and better thermal properties,” he said.
“Public institutions such as hospitals, hotels, Zimbabwe Republic Police, Zimbabwe National Army and Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services specifically need the woven blanket and that’s the reason why these institutions currently do not have enough blankets.”
For the purposes of diversification, Nyambirai said they intend to produce a wider range of products by taking advantage of their versatile technology.
“Introducing off-season products will help us manage our cash flow during summer since blankets sell mainly in the winter season. These include industrial canvas and shawls among other products,” he said.
The revival of the textile industry has been affected by an influx of cheap imports and the players keep on calling for the Government to put measures, which will promote the sector’s growth.
Access to cotton lint has also been a problem as producers prefer the export market to sell to local players.
National Blankets was established in 1939 and employed more than 5 000 workers during its peak period and contributed to exports.
Hopes are high that the company’s revival would amplify Bulawayo’s re-industrialisation and absorb more workers.
Bongani Ndlovu