The Sunday News
Sukoluhle Ndlovu, Midlands Correspondent
GWERU-BASED bakery and supermarket DCK, has set its eyes on opening another bakery in Kwekwe at the end of this year, following the recent opening of a mill and bakery in Gweru.
The Gweru milling plant was commissioned by Industry and Commerce Minister Nqobizitha Ndlovu, as the Government advances towards doing away with the monopoly in the bread industry.
This comes at a time when millers and bakers are complaining of wheat shortages, a situation which has seen prices of bread continuing to rise.
In an interview, DCK managing director Mr Douglas Kwande said the Kwekwe outlet is expected to open this month-end.
“We are opening a bakery in Kwekwe. The bakery will be like the one we recently opened in Gweru and we have already purchased the required machinery. Our plan is to spread our wings throughout the province and throughout the country so that people can get bread at a cheaper price,” he said.
Mr Kwande said the drive to expand the organisation’s footprint in the province is part of the company’s growth strategy.
“Opening branches in the province is part of our strategy to expand in the province and the country at large. We have heeded to President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s call of making bread from locally produced wheat to cut down the wheat import bill,” he said.
The bakery which was opened in Gweru following an injection of US$320 000, is producing 27 000 loaves of bread per day.
Currently the country imports between 70-75 percent of its required wheat.
This week, Grain Millers Association of Zimbabwe (GMAZ) announced that the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe released US$7 million for the payment of 19 000 metric tonnes of wheat bonded in Beira.
The 19 000 metric tonnes of wheat will cover the national flour requirements for the next two-and-a-half weeks, a situation expected to improve bread supply.
@sukusinini
