The Sunday News
Dumisani Nsingo, Senior Business Reporter
THE demise of the local industry and influx of cheap foreign products have over the years impacted negatively on the country’s leading manufacturer of refractory bricks, Clay Products Limited’s continuation as a going concern.
Clay Products marketing officer Mr Tapedza Chireshe said the company’s capacity utilisation was continuously on a downward spiral due to a decline in demand for its products on the market.
“We are operating at about 10 to 15 percent of capacity. The local market is not that diverse at the moment because our major customer was Ziscosteel and the National Railways of Zimbabwe also used to chip in but they are not performing at their greatest capacity so they are obviously taking less and a lot of other companies have closed down so that’s why we are not performing very well because our market has reduced,” he said.
Mr Chireshe said the company was only using four of its 15 functional ovens due to depressed demand.
“We have over 15 functional kilns but we have only been firing about four in a month but not at the same time because we have limited human resources as well, so we are firing one after the other maybe two at a time,” he said.
Presently the company is only manufacturing refractory bricks and basic mortars. Before the advent of or popularity of Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), the company used to manufacture earthenware piping, which was used for sewer reticulation as well as sanitary ware.
“We used to manufacture earthenware piping used for sewer reticulation but unfortunately the love for PVC has taken over so earthenware has reduced in its competitiveness and demand as well although some people still do come back for repairs to their systems, properties and such. So as for earthenware, we are no longer manufacturing. We are just selling the stock that we have.
The company was also forced to cease sanitary ware production about nine years ago.
“We also used to manufacture sanitary ware which is your toilet pans, systems, basins, toilet roll holder, soap dishes but we had to close it about nine years ago because of challenges with the machinery,” said Mr Chireshe.
He said the company was seeking protectionism from Government in the wake of an influx of cheap imported refractory bricks mostly from Botswana and China.
“There are companies that do bring in their own products from the countries, which they originate from. Of course they will say to them it makes economic sense because they are getting them cheaper but we would prefer them to support local industry.
“If the Government could protect us through import restrictions because we are the only big company in the industry and we are supporting a lot of families downstream,” said Mr Chireshe.
The company sources its clay from Lupane’s Gwayi area and Chiredzi and coal from Hwange. It also imports some of its raw materials from South Africa.
“Most of the raw materials are obtained locally, but we do import some aspects of the monolithic that we use. Mostly for the bricks everything is locally sourced in terms of the raw materials,” said Mr Chireshe.
At its peak, the company used export to most countries in the Southern African region but has over the years lost virtually all its market.
“We last exported at the beginning of last year to Botswana and since that time we haven’t managed to secure any orders on the export market but we are hopeful because we are still getting enquires here and there…We also used to export to South Africa, Namibia and DRC ,” said Mr Chireshe.
The company used to employ more than 400 workers but the workforce is now down to 89.
@DNsingo
