Local yeast industry under threat

yeastHarare Bureau
THE local yeast industry is losing more than $3 million annually through smuggling of the product from South Africa and Zambia by some unscrupulous businesses in the country, an industry player said yesterday. The Zimbabwe Revenue Authority recently intensified measures to curb the rampant smuggling of yeast, which is threatening domestic companies and efforts at reviving industry after a decade of economic instability.

In an interview with our Harare Bureau, Anchor Yeast Holdings chief operating officer Muvirimi Kupara said the local yeast industry was under threat from imports and the smuggling of huge volumes of yeast into the country.

“About 2,000 tonnes of active and inactive yeast were smuggled into the country last year because of the porousness of the border posts, something that Minister Mike Bimha (Industry and Commerce) has been talking about since his coming into office.

“The industry is losing more than $3 million and this is an amount that could have revived the industry a long time ago,” he said.
Kupara said the low value of the Zambian kwacha against the United States dollar made Zimbabwe an attractive market, consequently turning the country into a dumping ground for cheaper and sub-standard products.

He said the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Mechanisation Development has since stopped issuing import licences to companies dealing with yeast, cooking oil and grain milling.

However, some bakeries are still using the same products imported from Zambia and South Africa.
“The Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Mechanisation Development stopped giving import licences last year, but if you go into the bakeries, they are still using Clover yeast from Zambia which is a clear sign that there is a smuggling syndicate that continues to supply those products locally,” said Kupara.

He said the country had raw materials required for the manufacture of yeast and yet smuggling continued to be the main challenge affecting the viability of the local industry.

A foreign owned company based in Chitungwiza is suspected to be the main supplier of the smuggled yeast and is estimated to be supplying more than 120 tonnes of yeast per month to local bakeries.

“For your own information Bakers Inn’s importing licence was suspended by the Ministry of Agriculture and Mechanisation Development and yet the influx of imported yeast continues to grow. On record I can confidently confirm that Indians are the main culprits in the smuggling of yeast products into the country,”  said Kupara.

He added that the culprit foreign owned firms continue to have access to yeast because they monopolised the yeast manufacturing industry in neighbouring Zambia.
However, despite the industry being affected by the smuggled goods, Kupara said Anchor Yeast would make all the necessary investments to ensure the company remains viable and able to compete with imports from South Africa.

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