DELTA Beverages says it has the capacity to supply beer,
but will not be able to meet demand for soft drinks during the forthcoming
festive season.
Addressing journalists during a tour of the company’s
Harare plant on Thursday, Delta Beverages chief executive Pearson Gowero said
although government had released foreign currency to enable importation of raw
materials, the company would still not be able to produce enough soft drinks
ahead of the festive season.
Although many retailers have increased the prices for soft
drinks, Gowero insisted that the company had not increased its wholesale prices
as it was getting foreign currency from the Reserve Bank Zimbabwe (RBZ).
“But I am happy to say that I have just received
confirmation here that the central bank has allocated us some money to bring in
some concentrates for soft drinks. Therefore, we are working over the weekend
to get them in time for Christmas,” Gowero said.
“As far as beer is concerned, we should be able to meet
demand without too many problems. Soft drinks, clearly we are not able to do
so. There is going to be some kind of shortage of drinks.”
The company requires at least $60 million to $100 million
in foreign currency per annum to import raw materials. For beer, Gowero said
they need about 35 tonnes of barley to produce over 220 million litres for the
Harare lager plant, but operations have since been affected by intermittent
supplies of foreign currency from the RBZ.
Gowero said forex shortages were impacting heavily on the
production of soft drinks, as most of the concentrates where imported from
Swaziland. Newsday
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