https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/ZBW.pdf

May 1, 2021

Due to the significantly above-average 2021 harvest, the government has suspended all formal maize grain and maize meal imports. Grain deliveries to the Grain Marketing Board (GMB) are set to increase as harvesting and drying of grain to recommended moisture levels progress.

The Roadmap to a US$8 billion Industrial and Commercial Sector by 2023

Cabinet considered and approved the Roadmap to a US$8 billion Industrial and Commercial Sector by 2023, which was presented by the Minister of Higher and Tertiary Education, Innovation, Science and Technology Development, as Chairman of the Combined Cabinet Committee on Innovation, Technology Development and Application; and Committee on Industrial and Export Development. The Roadmap outlines the plan to raise the manufacturing and commercial sector contribution to GDP from the current US$7.16 billion to US$8.03 billion by 2023, through the sector’s diversified 94 sub-sectors. In the interim, the sector contribution to GDP is projected to grow to US$7.4 billion in 2021 and US$7.7 billion in 2022. 

Value addition to the country's raw products. Cabinet approval of the Zimbabwe Leather Sector Strategy: 2021-2030

Cabinet considered and approved the Zimbabwe Leather Sector Strategy: 2021-2030 which was presented by the Minister of Industry and Commerce. The strategy which is a successor to the Leather Sector Strategy (2012-2017) seeks to increase the overall competitiveness of the leather value chain in Zimbabwe and enhance access to both local and export markets for the finished products. The strategy will prioritise increased investments in industry, with emphasis on value addition and beneficiation of agricultural produce to promote export-led industrialisation as well as increase employment opportunities. 

Expansion and diversification of product ranges at ZimChem and refurbishment of Chemplex Corporation plant

Cabinet was informed that ZimChem company in Kwekwe made a robust response to the COVID-19 outbreak by diversifying its product range to the production of dishwashers and sanitisers at affordable prices. ZimChem has so far produced 15 000 litres of sanitisers. ZimChem will employ eighty (80) more workers when it completes its plant refurbishment. Another company, Chemplex Corporation, has so far made significant progress in the production of pesticides for the control of tsetse flies, mosquitoes and other pests. The company is modifying its manufacturing plant, and will soon increase its work force from 42 to 57.

The Zimbabwe government approves industrial cannabis production

President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government yesterday approved the production of industrial hemp to be used to source for foreign currency and to produce fuel.