HARARE - Tyre manufacturer, Dunlop Zimbabwe, has resumed full-scale operations at its factory after suspending trade for the past four months due to competition from the black market tyre industry.
The managing director of Dunlop Zimbabwe, Kennedy Mandevani, confirmed that they had resumed their operations adding that the market forces would determine their operations. “We are still facing challenges, mostly caused by the smuggling of tyres at ports of entry. These tyres are cheaper than the tyres that we produce, therefore making them more attractive to customers,” he said. Mandevani lamented failure by the financial institutions to offer long-term loans and the expensive interest rates charged by the banking sector.
“We do not have access to working capital as the banking sector is not offering long-term loans to industry. The working capital which you can borrow from the bank is only in form of the short term loans which have high interest rates,” said Mandevani. Dunlop employees started work last week after being told that the company had a lot of orders. “Right now all the three working shifts are operational and we were told that the short-time working arrangement is over. We last reported for duty on 19 February,” said a worker. Last week, the company said it had resumed exports to Malawi and Zambia, bringing in over US$125 000 in a period of three weeks.