Omega Ukama 
PADENGA Holdings (Padenga) says demand for its products has held strong and is expected to remain despite the Covid-19 pandemic.
The crocodile skins producer is also anticipating to successfully address the various quality challenges that it has had in the past and is “optimistic about further growth prospects.
“Demand for defect free skins remains strong and prices are anticipated to hold as long as the quality expectations of the premium market are satisfied,” Thembinkosi Sibanda, Padenga’s board chairman said last week in the company’s 2019 annual report.
“Although closed for much of March and April, French tanneries were anticipating to reopen mid-April and product supply has thus far, not been interrupted.
“Chinese markets for luxury products have reopened after their Covid-19 shutdown and European markets are anticipated to follow as full economic recovery begins. We forecast this operation will record growth in 2020,” he said.
The chairman said the Zimbabwe operation is projecting to sell 55 000 premium quality skins this year, “further extending its opportunity to expand its customer base”.
In the alligator operation, Sibanda said the 2020 harvest continues to improve and targeted quality grades remain achievable.
And while the novel coronavirus pandemic has led to depressed demand for watch band sized and low-grade skins, which is expected to continue into 2020, Padenga says it has responded to these changes by targeting to only produce medium and large skins.
“We have reduced volumes and reduced stocking densities to achieve the quality grades demanded,” Sibanda said.
Meanwhile, the company says the investigation and feasibility study into plantation cropping of Avocados and Macadamias has been successfully completed and the project has now advanced towards identifying suitable locations that “fulfil the multiple variables relevant to successful production.
“Given the lengthy period before commercially viable crop yields are produced, attention is being given to additional shorter season-cycle export crops that will provide positive liquidity and profits during the developmental phase of the plantations,” Sibanda said.
He also revealed that efforts to commission the second phase of its solar plant are underway.
The installations form part of the company’s initiative to offset 50 percent of its farm’s recurrent electricity cost, as well as “providing a strategic alternative against prolonged and excessive load shedding”.
