Maravi

Zimbabwe cement floods Livingstone

COMMENT - Good news from Zimbabwe you won't hear on the BBC.

Zimbabwe cement floods Livingstone
By Joan Chirwa in Livingstone
Monday February 12, 2007 [02:00]

IMPORTED cement from Zimbabwe has flooded the market in Livingstone and is selling faster than the locally produced product because of the differences in pricing.

A survey done at selected cement outlets in Livingstone revealed prices of between K32, 000 and K34, 000 per 50 kilogramme bag of PPC-Zim cement while prices of the local Mphamvu brand by Chilanga Cement range from K42, 000 to K46, 000 for the same quantity.

There has been high demand for cement across the country against low supply, leading to shortages of the commodity in some areas, due to the growing construction sector. At some point, traders who had access to cement inflated prices to around K60, 000 per 50 kilogramme in Lusaka and other areas where demand for the commodity proved to be quite high.

Since Chilanga Cement Plc currently has no capacity to supply enough cement to meet demand on the local market, the government allowed imports of the commodity in order to ease prices. “A lot of people prefer to buy cement from Zimbabwe because it is cheaper. We have been bringing in a number of bags and they sell quickly,” said Collins Phiri, a salesman at one of the outlets. “Usually, those who buy Mphamvu are the whites, and a few locals as well.”

And Rayford Malambo, a salesman at a different outlet, said it was easy for them to bring in cement from Zimbabwe hence the decision to put prices at a much lower level than the local brand. “You know Zimbabwe is very near to Livingstone. The amount of money we spend to bring in cement from Zimbabwe is not as much as we spend to bring Mphamvu from Lusaka and that is why the PPC cement from Zimbabwe is fair,” said Malambo.

Labels: ZIMBABWE

posted by MrK @ 7:10 AM