INDUSTRY and Commerce minster Mangaliso Ndlovu says he will be establishing very “close communication” channels with industry over the next two weeks to find areas of co-operation.
This is a follow-up to a meeting which Ndlovu had with retailers on Monday this week to discuss the impact of the Zimbabwe Gold (ZiG) currency on their business.
According to Ndlovu, manufacturers were increasingly demanding payments in United States dollar.
“Government will always support such investments,” the minister said after touring two new National Food Holdings Limited plants yesterday.
He toured a US$5,6 million pasta manufacturing plant and a US$7,7 million biscuit making line.
“It gives confidence for them to continue investing. And like I say, I’m very excited when it’s a strategic investment that either leads to import substitution or growth of our exports,” he said.
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“These are areas that we will be supporting quietly strongly. We will be establishing in the next week or two, I think, very close communication channels across industry just to make sure that from a policy perspective we work together with the private sector.”
Ndlovu said the ministry would be crafting most of these policies in that framework.
“We will make sure that we take on board the valuable views coming from industry,” Ndlovu said.
Amid inflationary challenges being faced in the market, made worse by the current drought, industry needs policy consistency to continue operating.
However, Ndlovu said government supports investments such as those by National Foods which lead to import substitution and lower demand for foreign currency.
National Foods Holdings’ investment into the two new plants is part of a wider US$40 million investment over the past three years to upscale its production levels across the entire business.
National Foods Holdings chief executive officer Mike Lashbrook said while drought remained a threat, the firm was confident that it had enough grain to produce up to June 2025.