Colcom revenue soars but volumes decline

Pork producer Colcom saw its sales increase by 583 percent to $44.4 billion but it says volumes were down because of constant price increases and dwindling consumer spending power.

In its report for the year ending December, the company says local sales increased by 519 percent from $5.6 billion to $34.6 billion while exports shot up by 978 percent from $908.3 million to $9.8 billion.

Operating profit rose from $1.3 billion to $16.1 billion. It was boosted by $775.2 million from an associate company and $2.7 billion from a joint venture.

The joint venture brought in only $196 million in 2002 while the associate earned $109.4 million.

Net profit was up 1239 percent from $1.2 billion to $15.4 billion.

The company says export volumes increased significantly in the last quarter due to strong regional demand.

The joint venture, Triple C Pigs, enjoyed improved market prices and high slaughter weights.

The associate, Freddy Hirsch Group, had another successful year.

The company says while the monetary policy had changed the economic landscape drastically by assisting in removing the speculative behaviour that had ravaged the economy and fuelled inflation, further inflationary pressures from service providers such as the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority , would place great strain on manufacturers.

The company said the productive sector facility was also assisting manufacturers and should stabilize prices but the export exchange rate had eroded margins.

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