Dendairy invests US$6 million

 

KWEKWE based dairy products producer Dendairy says it has invested in new multi-million dollar state of the art factory equipment which comes with a boxing line.

The move comes at time when the country is trying to reverse a decline in the dairy industry characterised by a shrinking national herd and influx of foreign products on the market.

In an interview a company official Daryl Archibald said the investment was necessitated by the company’s need to produce 3000 tonnes of boxed milk a month per.

"This is a very sophisticated plant and we spent US$6 million on the plant with US$2 million going towards the boxing line.

“Dendairy is currently the only company to have invested in a boxing line and will be the only local supplier of long life milk and juice packaged in this format,” Archibald said.

Archibald said the plant installed by renowned supplier of long life milk and juice packaging plants TetraPak would enable the company to tap into the growing dairy and juice market by producing a diverse line of products.

Currently Dendairy range of products includes UHT milk, flavoured milk, yoghurt, ice-cream, butter and powdered milk.

Milk consumption per capita in Zimbabwe is still very low and is estimated to be between seven to eight litres per person per annum, indicative of the potential the industry has if compared with other regional countries like Botswana and South Africa who consume between 37 and 79 litres per person per annum.

"We will be rolling out numerous product ranges with the first being full cream milk 500ml and 1litre, our proven flavoured milk lines and nectar juice line," said Archibald.

Dendairy’s move is line with the buy Zimbabwe concept which aims at reducing the influx of imports from neighbouring countries predominantly from South Africa which is the biggest importer of boxed milk into Zimbabwe.

"We are looking at reducing our imports from South Africa gradually as we won’t be able to immediately make use of our installed capacity," said Archibald.

At its peak, the dairy sector produced over 250 million litres of milk but the figure tumbled to 56 million litres in 2012.

The national dairy herd also tumbled from 197 000 at its peak to 26 000 in 2012 while dairy commercial farmers decreased from 500 to 100.

The decline in the local dairy industry product has led to the influx of South African products which now dominate the local market.

Currently the country imports four million litres of dairy products a month with 90 percent of the products being boxed UHT milk.

Archibald said the sector had made presentations to government for temporary protection in order for them to regain competitiveness.

Among some of the presentations made to government through the ministry of finance was the imposition of duty on dairy products from South Africa.