The Sunday News
Business Correspondent
THE country’s leading bread manufacturer, Lobels Holdings, has projected to increase its production by 69 percent next year.
Addressing journalists and Buy Zimbabwe officials during a Buy Zimbabwe Campaign tour last Wednesday, the company’s board chairman, Mr Ephraim Chawoneka, said production capacity at both its Harare and Bulawayo factories was expected to increase from 340 000 loaves per day to 490 000 by December 2015 following massive investment in machinery.
“The Harare plants have an installed capacity of 240 000 loaves per day. This business has registered significant growth in capacity from 30 000 loaves per day before August 2012,” said Mr Chawoneka.
“It is envisaged that with the massive retooling exercise that is under way, capacity would have grown to 340 000 units per day by December 2015. The Bulawayo plant has installed a capacity of 100 000 per day and this is meant to grow to 150 000 units per day by December 2015 through massive investment that management has undertaken.”
Mr Chawoneka also added that Lobels which commands a market share of 30 percent was likely to increase its market share up to 45 percent by December 2015.
In line with the Buy Zimbabwe Campaign philosophy, which calls for people and companies to promote local brands, Mr Chawoneka said his company has created a local market which has led to employment creation.
“As Lobels our market is entirely Zimbabwean and hence our strategy has been and is premised on a strong desire to contribute meaningfully to the growth of the Zimbabwean economy,” said Mr Chawoneka.
“We have done a lot in creating a local market for all raw materials that we use in our plants. Our suppliers namely National Foods, Nestle, Mega Market, Alpha Grain, Anchor Yeast to name but a few can attest to this fact.”
Lobels Bread was started by Lobels Brothers in Bulawayo in 1957, and was bought by a consortium of businessmen in 2002 and expanded the operations to Bulawayo with the opening capacity of 60 000 in 2004.
