By Alois Vinga

GOVERNMENT’s decision to adopt the RTGS$ has caused pain to blue-chip local milk supplier Dairibord Holdings with the company’s income falling 52% for every litre sold.

Chief executive officer Antony Mandiwanza, told NewZimbabwe.com Business last Friday, that the current operating environment is pushing the company’s sales value down.

“Compared to previous years, we are now selling one litre of milk at an equivalent of US$0.62 cents which is a 52% decline. During our half year, raw milk production went up by 21%, while sales volumes also grew by 8%,” he said.

Mandiwanza however said that the company is implementing robust strategies which have seen foreign currency revenue surging to US$2.1 million in the first half of 2019 an increase from US$0.6 million realised in the comparative period last year due to increased exports.

The Dairibord boss said that the main anchor of the exports strategy is hinged on the strength of the company’s  brands which are in demand both locally and abroad like  the cartonised Chimombe , sterilised milk , pfuko maheu, cordials like Quench and peanut butter are well in demand

He added that the current operating environment is tougher than had been anticipated indicating that inflation is projected to be rising causing continued shortages of necessary utilities.

“The main challenges relate to utilities in as far as the availability of water and electricity is concerned. The month of May has been the worst and this has been a very worrisome development because it has a huge negative impact on our business,” said Mandiwanza.

Overally, sales volumes performance were in the positive margin despite  a backdrop of  demand compression, inflation, diminishing spending power and this speaks to the robustness of our brand that we are able to sustain positive growth in the first half of 2019.