GB sits at 50 percent capacity utilisation

BELT and rubber manufacturer General Beltings Holdings (GB) says it is currently operating at 50 percent capacity utilisation, but is ready to meet customer demands.
In an interview with The Financial Gazette, managing director of GB, Willbroad Tsuroh, said capacity utilisation is hardly “a steady parameter as it encompasses the status of raw materials supply and customers’ demand cycle.”
“At GB, we are sitting at about 50 percent but with all things to do with factories, it also depends on what is happening in terms of feedstock,” Tsuroh said.
“If you have a steady supply of raw materials then you can get steady capacity utilisation. It also depends on your customer’s demand side. We are geared to supply the whole of Zimbabwe’s conveyor belt needs, but there are times when our end users preparing and repairing cycles are on the low side, in which case demand becomes low.”
Tsuroh highlighted that the company is also facing a competitiveness challenge as it has had to purchase raw materials regionally, which is expensive, affecting its competitiveness with regional players.
“Our major challenge has been competitiveness and that competitiveness is stemming from our purchasing strategy, we had a challenge in that we could not buy from the source where the raw materials are manufactured.
“We have had to buy regionally and yet compete with regional players so that meant we naturally eroded our competitiveness,” Tsuroh said.
“What we have done so far is to look for resources to try and ensure that we have enough capital to buy from manufacturing countries. We are putting in place a schedule to procure raw materials from China and Asia and that should bring our costs down and we should be able to capture some market share.”
During the first quarter to March 31, 2023, 2023, the company posted a 40 percent decrease in total volumes to 206 metric tonnes from 342 metric tonnes recorded in the prior quarter, as the debilitating power outages significantly affected production.
The rubber division volumes, at 113 metric tonnes, were five percent shy of the prior year’s corresponding period volumes while the chemicals division volumes were 58 percent lower at 93 metric tonnes.
Resultantly, GB’s operating profit was 19 percent lower than the same period the prior year.
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