NEW: Seed Co expects full-year volume growth

Online Reporter

Seed Co Limited, the country’s biggest seed producer, says it expects full-year volume growth, as well as a rise in foreign currency sales despite a challenging operating environment.

As the economy has increasingly dollarised, the company recorded an increase in purchases made in foreign currency.

Said the group in its trading update for the third quarter to December 2022: “In Zimbabwe, the business is expected to experience volume growth, as well as a notable increase in the contribution of hard currency revenue from encouraging export growth and a significant increase in domestic sales in US dollars.

“On a regional level, a mixed volume performance is predicted, with growth forecast in some regions of Southern Africa and East Africa and a drop due to drought in other regions of East Africa.”
The seed producer’s volumes (a key indicator of demand) rose 14 percent in the first nine months, and went up 46 percent in the third quarter.

The volume increase was underpinned by “ample stocks, exports, record local sales of wheat and soybeans as well as favourable rainfall projections towards the start of the main planting season”.

Seed Co’s inflation-adjusted revenue rose 12 percent during the first nine months of its financial year, compared to the same period last year.