LIVINGSTONE MARUFU
Zimbabwe’s cooking oil industry is eyeing capacity utilisation to 61% by year-end from the current 50% owing to improved accessibility of foreign currency on the formal market.
Capacity utilisation measures the level at which a company is operating at or the level at which it is using its plant or equipment.
“Our estimated utilisation for the second quarter was between 40-50% level on the back of an improved soya bean harvest and the orderly allocation of soya beans by the Ministry of Land, Agriculture, Water and Rural Resettlement through Grain Marketing Board,” Oil Expressers Association of Zimbabwe president Busisa Moyo told Business Times.
He said the sector’s forex requirements, estimated to be US$160m, has been supported by banking sector letters of credit, the weekly auction as well as local customers for cooking oil, soaps and stockfeed who now readily pay in US$, both retailers, wholesalers, and manufacturers as well.
Moyo said oil expressers have also been exporting stock feeds to generate their own foreign currency, companies, and individuals with free funds are also importing some raw materials to ease the pressure of foreign currency requirements.
The additional sources of foreign currency mean members do not solely rely on the auction for foreign currency.
Moyo said eggs, chicken, and pork availability will improve this year as soya meal, the base protein source, is readily available.
He said most members have improved their operational levels following the relaxation of the lockdown regulations to level two from four and improved the efficiency of the foreign currency auction system.
The cooking oil industry is currently at its peak period which starts from September and ends in December.
The country requires two million litres of cooking oil per week.
