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Everyday, cars of all shapes and sizes traverse the country’s roads from the border areas laden with beds, wardrobes, sofas, kitchen units as well as electrical gadgets.
Although all these items are now readily available in most local shops, they are not affordable to the majority of Zimbabweans who earn less than US$200 a month.
Most furniture items in Zimbabwe can be bought at half the price in South Africa.
The local furniture industry claims it is in a dilemma — it cannot reduce prices to match those in South Africa because of high production costs and shortage of cheap finance, while volumes are still low as the sector recovers from the economic meltdown.
Players in the industry said the introduction of multiple currencies last year had not helped the industry as it did other sectors like food retail outlets.
“The introduction of the multiple currencies did not improve the operations of the furniture industry but only settled the prices and brought stability in the prices but people do not have money to buy furniture,” said Mr Brian Sinclair, the managing director of Baobab Industries, a Bulawayo-based furniture manufacturer.
“There is no money, we do not have a market for our goods. We have hundreds of people who come here but they do not have money to buy our furniture,” he said.
Mr Sinclair said he had stopped manufacturing some furniture citing lack of interest from the local market, adding the costs of raw material had increased thereby putting the furniture industry out of business.
“I used to make wardrobes and room dividers but now I don’t make them any more,” he said.
The general manager of Sterling Furnishers, Mr Allan Jones, who is also the vice-president of the Matabeleland Chamber of Industries, said the local furniture industry was facing severe operational challenges, confirming that most people in the country were buying furniture in South Africa.
“The local furniture industry faces liquidity constraints and right now most of the companies are operating at 35 percent and are using obsolete machines. As the local industry we are here to supply the local market,” he said.
He acknowledged that furniture in Zimbabwe was expensive compared to South Africa but pointed out that goods might be cheaper but of poor quality.
Mr Jones, who is also the chairman of the Matabeleland Furniture Manufacturers’ Association, said the operational challenges faced by the furniture industry were worsened by an increase in the number of furniture items from the Far East.
“These countries use Africa as a dumping ground.”
Business executives have warned that some countries in the Southern African Development Community and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa are tampering with certificates of origin on goods they import from outside the trading blocs so that they enter duty-free into Comesa and Sadc member states.
Furniture retailers have adopted a number of strategies to move their stock, including the introduction of hire purchase facilities and lay-by schemes.
When multiple currencies were first introduced, credit facilities were limited to three months.
However, with improving liquidity, some shops have extended the repayment period to more than 12 months.
However, many people still feel that despite the extended repayment period, their salaries cannot sustain the instalments.
Before the economic crisis at the turn of the century, most furniture shops offered credit terms of up to 36 months.
TN Holdings group public relations executive Mr O’Brien Rwafa said the listed furniture retail and manufacturing group had introduced a 16-month credit facility to ease the burden on buying furniture.
“It makes sense for about 500 people to pay monthly instalments as opposed to cash purchases especially considering that the majority of workers in the country are civil servants,” he said.