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Oliver Kazunga Senior Business Reporter
CEMENT maker, Pretoria Portland Cement (PPC) Zimbabwe, is targeting producing 700,000 tonnes of cement per year after the commissioning of its Harare plant, which will allow the firm to penetrate the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Mozambique markets. The company is building a $75 million cement mill in Harare which is expected to be commissioned early next year.

The company’s general manager in charge of sales and marketing, Roger Steyn, told a recent business gathering in Bulawayo that their production capacity stood at 1,1 million tonnes annually.

“PPC Zimbabwe is very positive. All we’re looking forward to is taking opportunities in the country and the region. We’re actually putting a lot of investment into the business and going forward, we’re building a plant in Harare,” he said.

“Our current capacity is sitting on 1,1 million tonnes and we’re adding 700,000 tonnes using the Harare plant . . . that gives us some opportunities to penetrate export markets to the Democratic Republic of Congo and Mozambique.”

In March, the country’s leading cement producer said the export market had been hit by low demand due to a number of reasons, chief among them the recent strengthening of the United States dollar.

At the beginning of the year, PPC Zimbabwe’s exports dropped by about 40 percent.

Steyn said their company had not been spared from the influx of cheap imported products into the country, which stakeholders have said impacted negatively on the competitiveness of local industries.

However, Steyn said this would be addressed through a Consignment-Based Conformity Assessment (CBCA) facility that would see the government curbing sub-standards products from entering the country.

The government has given importing firms an ultimatum to allow finished sub-standards products into the country between now and mid-September after which sub-standard goods would be prohibited in Zimbabwe.

Products covered under the CBCA include food and agricultural goods, building, products, timber and timber products, petroleum and fuel, electrical and electronic products as well as clothing and textiles.