The Sunday News
Dumisani Nsingo, Senior Business Reporter
BULAWAYO-based cooking oil and soap manufacturer United Refineries Limited is set to increase its range of washing soaps buoyed by the placement of the commodity under import restrictions.
URL chief executive officer Mr Busisa Moyo said the company was considering extending its lines of soap productions.
Early this year, the company had shelved plans to invest more than $1 million towards the setting up of a laundry-powdered soap plant in the face of stiff competition due to an influx of cheap imported products on the market.
However, Statutory Instrument (SI) 64 of 2016, which virtually banned the importation of all basic commodities into the country, seems to have spurred the company to reconsider its decision.
“We are reconsidering extending our lines in soaps,” said Mr Moyo without further elaborating and specifying.
Washing soaps are part of the commodities under the import restrictions and has set limits on the quantity of goods individuals can import duty-free per month.
According to the list, individuals are allowed monthly imports of not more than one kilogramme of coffee creamers, camphor creams, white petroleum jellies and body creams not exceeding 180 millilitres, not more than two kilogrammes of cereals, one pack of 12 potato crisp packages each weighing 125 grammes, a dozen baked beans tins each weighing 340 grammes and mayonnaise and salad creams not exceeding two litres.
The law also allows individuals monthly imports of up to two kilogrammes each of peanut butter and jams, as well as canned fruits and vegetables. Individuals can also import up to one litre of ice-creams, one kilogramme of cheese, one kilogramme of yoghurt, four litres in juice blends and water, four kilogrammes of washing powder and not more than 24 bars of washing soaps per month.
Mr Moyo who is also the Confederations of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) president said most of the cooking oil expressers were venturing into the manufacture of green bar soaps.
“Some brands that are emerging are FUDA, Clean-O, Britaa, Bravoo, M.M Bar all of which are made locally. These are found in supermarket chains around the country,” he said.
Mr Moyo said the capacity utilisation of cooking oil manufacturer’s remains higher at more than 60 percent than the average utilisation of 34 percent with other sectors like milk, beverages and other agro-processors that also above 60 percent.
@DNsingo
