Story by Tafara Chikumira
NATIONAL Foods is recording strong growth in production, revenue and employment following the operationalisation of three production plants commissioned by President Dr Emmerson Mnangagwa last year.
The biscuit, pasta and cereal plants were established at a cost of US$23 million as part of the company’s recapitalisation programme aimed at enhancing production efficiency and expanding output.
The investment is now yielding positive results, with capacity utilisation rising across the three facilities and the company reporting growth in both revenue and workforce numbers.
National Foods Group Chief Executive Officer, Mr Mike Lashbrook said the new plants are performing strongly and contributing significantly to the company’s expansion.
“Our production levels have steadily increased. The pasta plant is operating at an average of 80 percent. The biscuit plant is at 100 percent, and the cereals plant is at 90 percent. Our monthly revenue as a group is between 12 and 15 percent. Since we commissioned the plants, our workforce has increased by 300 people, which translates to around 15 percent. This speaks to good growth on this side,” he said.
Buoyed by the favourable operating environment, the company is planning further investment and expansion into export markets.
“I must say the business environment is quite ok. This is increasing our appetite to do business. We intend to establish more production plants to the tune of US$25 million beginning next year. We also intend to make inroads in the export markets once our production peaks,” Mr Lashbrook said.
The developments come as the Second Republic continues to promote industrial retooling and modernisation as part of efforts to improve capacity utilisation and competitiveness across the manufacturing sector.
Industrial recapitalisation remains a key pillar of the National Development Strategy 2 (NDS2), which seeks to accelerate economic growth and support Zimbabwe’s drive towards attaining upper-middle-income economy status by 2030.
