The agro-processing and food and beverages sectors helped push the capacity utilisation of the manufacturing sector for the year ended June 2011 to 57,2%, a Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries(CZI) survey has shown.
Launching the survey yesterday, CZI chief economist Lorraine Chikanya said the manufacturing sector faced challenges of low demand, machine breakdown, shortage of working capital and lack of raw materials.
“The survey was from 120 firms and the response rate was 68% and lower than last year. There were low responses and delays from firms. Capacity utilisation increased by 13,5% to 57,2% from 43,7% last June,” she said.
At least 13 sectors of the economy responded while one sector ignored the questionnaires for the survey.
Overall output volume growth for the sector increased by 14,1%, with 68% of the respondents having recorded a positive growth while 32% recorded a decline in output.
The survey showed that exports were still depressed with Zambia being the top export market for the country with 29%.
Vice-President Joice Mujuru urged Ministry of Finance officials to take note of the salient points of the survey and use them to institute relevant policies when formulating the 2012 National Budget.
“Indeed it is one of the key tools to enable both government and business to make informed decisions. Thus let us view this survey as a continuance of our national efforts to grow our economy and use its results to trigger strategic responses to indentified weaknesses, while building on the identified strengths,” said Mujuru.
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Capital investments increased by five percentage points to 47% and at least $43,4 million has been channelled for investment in the sector.
“In the first half of 2011, the percentage of respondents who undertook capital investments increased by five percentage points to 47%. The figure remained stagnant in the second half of 2010, with 42% of respondents indicating that they had undertaken capital investment projects,” she said.
