Foreign currency shortage leaves Sino Zimbabwe short of cement bags

Sino Zimbabwe Cement company has a foreign currency shortage problem that has left it short of funds to pay for cement packaging material, reports the Zimbabwe chronicle.

The Gweri-based cement producer has been pledged foreign currency allocations as a priority by the central bank to enable it to buy raw materials for cement production, but with demand for cement rising so quickly that there has been an increase in the need for bagging material as well for which Sino Zimbabwe needs foreign currency to buy.

"We have been constrained lately because we do not have suppliers of cement bags locally and we have to import them from South Africa, Tanzania or Zambia," said Mr Yong Wang, managing director of Sino Zimbabwe Cement.

"And with the prevailing shortage of foreign exchange, we had challenges in accessing packaging materials."

The company also needs foreign currency for other payments such as servicing and quality control. Mr Yong stated for quality control "we now owe them huge amounts of money. What has worsened the situation is that some of them now demand payment up front."