Sino Zimbabwe Cement realised a 10% YoY increase in sales volumes in the second quarter of 2017 driven by housing developments across the country.
Yong Wang, managing director of the local cement producer, told Business Chronicle (Zimbabwe) that the company has been facing a number of challenges including liquidity constraints and the alleged smuggling of cheap cement imports, especially from South Africa. However, he noted that “there has been progress,” mainly due to housing developments underway as Zimbabwe strives to reduce its housing backlog.
Wang noted that he hoped the market will further improve so the company can increase capacity utilisation.
Sino-Zimbabwe Cement Co is a joint venture between the Industrial Development Corporation of Zimbabwe (IDC) and China’s CBMC.
The company has a 0.7Mta plant, 40km southwest of Gweru. The company has spent US$1m on building storage space for raw materials and transport infrastructure improvements and in 2015 completed a US$5m upgrade to double its storage capacity.
