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By Hillary Munedzi
Pretoria Portland Cement (PPC) Zimbabwe has created an initiative that allows Zimbabwean nationals who are in the diaspora to buy cement directly from them, thereby cutting off the middlemen who were ripping off their hard-earned cash.
Zimbabweans who are in the diaspora can buy cement from PPC in bulk since they have been taken advantage of by their relatives and contractors who charge astronomical prices.
Speaking during a media tour at their US$85 million PPC manufacturing factory in Harare yesterday, PPC General Manager Zenele Dube emphasized that PPC is eager to partner with the diaspora community in building their homes since they have been victims of fraud by their counterparts in Zimbabwe.
“PPC is eager to partner with the diaspora community to buy cement to build their homes and any other investment back home and since we pride ourselves in building a better Zimbabwe, we urge the people in the diaspora to buy cement from PPC and our minimum order quantity is 200 bags.
“This will save their capital since they have been subject to profiteering from relatives and contractors who they will be working with. People in the diaspora can do their transactions through Mukuru, Moneygram, and any other money transfer facility,” said Dube.
Cement imports have weighed heavily on PPC efforts to reach optimum capacity utilization levels with the major contributor being logistics and high electricity tariffs which make cement more expensive than regional competitors.
“The business is being affected by a series of challenges from high fuel and electricity prices. Adding to the burden is the fact that we take our coal in Hwange and our clinker in Colleen Bawn in Gwanda. These costs are being passed to the end user and this has affected our pricing regime so competitors in the region have a better price than ours because of our operating costs, but apart from this our cement is still competitive and we sell our cement at US$9.30 a bag but we hear our cement is being sold from US$13 to $15 per bag, ” she said.
In their operating update for the twelve months ending 31 March 2022, PPC Zimbabwe has continued to trade well ahead of expectation.
For the twelve months ending 31 March 2022, PPC Zimbabwe’s cement sales volume is expected to increase by 21-25% year on year, benefiting from retail demand, increased sales to concrete product manufacturers, and support from Government funded products.