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Lovemore Zigara, Midlands Correspondent
KWEKWE-based dairy processor Dendairy plans to broaden its exports to Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo as it expands market footprint in the region.

Dendairy manufactures an array of dairy products among them long life shelf milk, yoghurts, sour milk, ice cream and fruit juices. The dairy processor is presently exporting some of its products to Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique.

Dendairy director Mr Darryl Archibald said the company had also targeted Namibia but the move had been hampered by trade barriers despite trade protocols within the SADC region, which allows members to trade freely among each other.

“We are looking at Tanzania and a little bit into Namibia to export some of our products. However, it’s very hard to get into Namibia and South Africa because of the depreciation of the South African rand in recent years,” he said.

“The challenge is that in SA and Namibia they come up with a litany of excuses for what cannot be there. However, we do not have such challenges with Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique and we are also trying our luck in DRC.”

The Kwekwe based company recently launched a new company – Victoria Fruit Company, which will specialise on fruit juices .

“We have established a sister company called the Victoria Fruit Company, which is doing 100 percent fruit juices and is doing Citro. We are also going to be launching more products under that banner,” said Mr Archibald.

“We have introduced new products onto the market like the Citro range of fruit juices, which is in the 100ml and 200ml sachets. The response has been tremendous and we are going to bring on board the Citra one litre, which we are confident will do well on the market,” he said.

Dendairy has taken advantage of a 25 percent levy introduced by Government to curb the influx of dairy imports to recapitalize its operations having commissioned a new Tetra Pak plant, a packaging machine for dairy products. This has made the company more competitive especially in the region.

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