The Sunday News
Robin Muchetu, Senior Reporter
MANUFACTURERS and suppliers of basic foodstuffs and medical consumables have been called to up their game so that they meet the growing demand of their products, increase market accessibility and fight the risk which comes with queues during the Covid-19 lockdown.
Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) president Mr Denford Mutashu said they were working with key suppliers so that there was consistent supply of key basics to the public.
Mr Mutashu said President Mnangagwa met businesspeople on Friday last week where discussions bordered around the supply of basic commodities and where manufacturers could access foreign currency at the interbank rate to guarantee the continuous supply of raw materials to produce goods continuously.
“We met with manufacturers and discussed issues of access to foreign currency for uninterrupted supply of goods into the market. We also met with millers’ representatives. They highlighted the urgent need to procure more maize so that there will be uninterrupted supply of mealie-meal. Unfortunately, what we have discovered is that where the mealie-meal is delivered it is posing a serious health risk as most people gather there and it is understandable as many people would have run out of it in their homes,” he said.
“We are working round the clock so that whatever challenges consumers may have during this lockdown for critical products like mealie-meal, sugar, cooking oil and bread are ironed out, through increased accessibility,” said Mr Mutashu.
He said there was a lot of profiteering owing to the reduced number of operators during the lockdown.
“We call upon sector players to exercise restraint. In the same vein we are proposing to Government to regulate key basic commodities in order to safeguard the public who are under lockdown,” he said.
A survey carried out by the Sunday News Business in the city revealed that medical suppliers were recording brisk business for products like sanitisers, gloves and face masks with supply failing to meet the growing demand.
Mr Cephas Mweyamweya, the Medical Wholesalers Association of Zimbabwe (MWAZ) said with the coronavirus pandemic they have been affected in a number of ways.
“As a nation we were ill prepared in terms of medical provisions, consumables and equipment. We are already going through a very challenging period as a country where our economy is not steady. We are experiencing cash flow problems and we also do not have good foreign currency supply from banks, so, all these things are affecting us,” he said.
Mr Mweyamweya said most if not all their members had very limited stocks.
“You find out that most of our members did not have any stock when the virus became a global problem, we basically live from hand to mouth. When this pandemic hit us, it hit us hard and the demand for medical equipment and consumables shot through the roof and when this happened, we could not immediately restock,” he added.
The chairman said the closure of borders to imports was further affecting the supply of medical provisions into the country.
“This meant that we could not import goods easily especially with air travel which is the fastest for us to access our products. We also note that since the pandemic affected the world and China, India and South Africa being our major suppliers also closed shops and when this happened the demand for products required increased sharply right through the world.
All countries require face masks, sanitisers, gloves, resuscitators and many more and demand is the same in each country thereby making it difficult for every country to be able to get equipment,” he added.
“I was talking to one supplier in China and from a delivery period of the usual 14 days they are now talking of more than 30 days as they are saying they are overwhelmed with orders from countries like the United Kingdom, USA and other developed countries who have the capacity to order in bulk and Africa becomes compromised because any supplier would first look at the bigger orders that would have been placed before they look at the small orders from our end,” he lamented.
Players in the industry said they continue to be under severe pressure as medical suppliers in the country because demand for supplies was very high locally.
They, however, said they continue to supply their clients with the little that they could offer although they would want to do more.
Another challenge they noted is that prices have shot up throughout the world for medical supplies because of demand, a product that they were buying from India a month ago for US$30 has shot up to US$200 as people are taking advantage of the situation and increasing prices.
