Published: 31 October 2013

Cooking oil manufacturer Surface Investments has temporarily suspended plans to install a new bottling plant due to shortages of raw materials on the local market, an official said on Thursday.

Early this year the company announced that it would install a new bottling line by September as part of efforts to ramp up production.

The new bottling line was expected to have capacity to fill 500 cartons of cooking oil per hour. But due to the decline in production of soya bean and cotton over the years, coupled with competition from cheap imports, cooking oil manufacturers have been failing to optimize their operations.

Surface Investments chief executive officer Sylvester Mangani said inadequate supply of cotton seed had influenced the decision.

"Items like the new bottling line have been put on hold in line with the business shrinkage," he said.

"Due to the low cotton season we have cut back our operations on cotton-seed crushing."

Mangani said the firm had adopted mitigatory measures to ensure production was not halted entirely. He said the company, like other manufacturers in the country, was being affected by the influx of cheap imports from neighboring countries.

"At the moment, to keep ourselves afloat, we are refining crude oil and our brand, Pure Drop, is doing well in the market.

"The major issue which we hope the new government to resolve is of smuggled cheap imported oil getting into the country without paying duties. We hope measures are put in place to curb this for local industry to survive," he said.

In terms of capacity, Surface Investments is the largest multi-oil seed processing plant in the country.

The company says it also exports crude oil to Malawi as well as cotton linters and cotton hulls to South Africa and Europe. Surface Investments is a joint venture between the Industrial Development Corporation of Zimbabwe with 26 percent and an Indian firm, Midex Global, which holds 74 percent.

- New Ziana

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