THE Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) is set to conduct a manufacturing survey during the last quarter of this year, which will look at companies’ capacity utilisation levels.
BY VICTORIA MTOMBA
CZI president, Busisa Moyo said the survey will start in August through October.
“In October we will release the manufacturing sector survey results,” he said.
Moyo said the manufacturing sector had a sluggish performance in the first half of the year, but expected recovery by year-end.
“We don’t have accurate statistics for quarterly performances. However, volumes are estimated to be 15-20% lower year-on-year in a deflationary environment. We trust we can recover and increase output in the second half, which is traditionally better and the Make and buy Zimbabwe campaign should gain momentum,” he said.
The campaign is designed to promote local products, with restrictions being put in place on basic commodity imports.
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Moyo said output may have increased, but utilisation may be flat because available capacity has increased in certain sectors, with new capital equipment being installed in the leather sector, cooking oil, milk and beverages.
In other sectors, capacity has not increased, he said.
Early this year, Moyo told NewsDay that capacity utilisation levels were expected to grow by at least 10 percentage points this year, if government and the private sector reach an agreement on the indeginisation policy that stipulates that at least 51% shareholding in businesses with a net asset value of at least $500 000 should be in the hands of locals. He projected capacity utilisation to reach 45% this year from 34,4% in 2015.
Moyo said the capacity utilisation target by December 2017 based on positive developments, was supposed to be 65% after the repayment of the public debt.
The manufacturing survey to assess the performance of the manufacturing sector in the country is an annual process.
The sector is facing challenges that include lack of capital as well as low revenues due to the unavailability of cash in the economy.
