The Sunday News
Roberta Katunga, Senior Business Reporter
BULAWAYO-based company Millennium Footwear shoe manufacturers is set to acquire a trophy dealers licence that will see the company launching a new range of exotic leather for men’s shoes.
In an interview, managing director Mr Stuart Simali said the shrinking local market has forced the company to re-strategise and focus on exports such as exotic leather products made from elephant, crocodile, ostrich as well as buffalo skin were in demand in Europe.
“We will be launching the new range in time for the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair where we will showcase a range of samples. These samples will be taken to Europe and exhibited during fairs so that we get a feel of what the customer wants before manufacturing in bulk,” said Mr Simali.
Mr Simali said the company would focus on men’s shoes first and later manufacture women footwear as the demand for the men’s shoes were high. Speaking on the trophy dealers licence, Mr Simali said it will allow the company to buy raw hides from auctions or Campfire which can be turned into finished leather or cut into shoes for export.
“We applied for this licence and we will be having it at the end of March,” he said.
Mr Simali said the shoemaking industry was facing challenges of a dwindling market because of cheap imports that have flooded the country as well as lack of disposable income. Millenium Footwear is operating at 10 percent capacity.
“On full capacity, we should be manufacturing 800 pairs a day but we are making about 40- 50 pairs a day. This is what the local market can consume a day,” he said.
In a separate interview, Shoepack factory manager Mr Thembinkosi Wenha said shoe manufacturers were competing with people who sell shoes at very low prices especially second hand shoes found at the flea market popularly known as Khothama.
Mr Wenha said the material for making shoes is acquired at a high cost as about 85 percent of the raw materials are imported from South Africa.
“The market is saturated with flea markets and cheap imports which are affecting business for shoe makers who cannot compete with these products as their own costs of manufacturing are high. For us, it’s now better to export than sell in Zimbabwe as we no longer have a market for our products,” said Mr Wenha.
He said the biggest challenge was getting cheap capital to produce in bulk for the export market.
“We need a system that will assist us with affordable loans that are not too tight. There are ready markets for our products as shoe manufacturers but we need to make huge volumes and be able to meet the demand thus our appeal for Government support,” said Mr Wenha.
He said Shoepack was operating at about 50 percent capacity with a target to produce at least 200 pairs a day.
He said the shoemaking industry was labour intensive.
Zambezi Tanners Tannery manager Mr Arnold Britten said although they dealt mostly in exports, the market was now slow due to the global recession.
He said their capacity utilisation dropped from 65 percent last year to 30-35 percent this year.
“The high cost of material chemicals which we import pushes up our costs of leather for both local tanneries and the export market. Our biggest challenge at the moment is the sourcing of elephant hides,” said Mr Britten.
