Zimbabwe capacity utilization at 52.3%

The Conferderation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) has released its latest report on the state of Zimbabwean manufacturing.

This is based on a survey of a total of 355 industries.

Key insights:
• Stagnation: Capacity utilisation was 52.3% in 2024. It has fallen gradually from 56% in 2021. This means about half of industrial capacity is idle
• Output from manufacturers fell slightly by 0.5% in 2024
• Only 5% of manufacturing output is exported, largely due to high costs and competition from cheaper goods, plus the forex retention policy
• Zimbabwe’s manufacturing plants are on average 17 years old. 30% are more than 20 years old.
• The best performing are the large new factories that have opened in the last 5 years

?Trade
Most manufacturers (42%) don’t believe Zim is ready to compete should free trade (AfCFTA) come into effect. This is mostly because of high production costs, followed by old equipment and high taxes

? How are industries getting forex?

83% now generate their own forex from sales. USD made up 86.6% of money in circulation in December. Only 8% of industry gets its forex from the official market. Just 3% now gets forex from the black market, down from 15% in 2023.