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Sara Lee halts local production
By
Ephraim Munthali - 18-07-2002 |
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Sara Lee Household & Body Care Malawi Lim-ited has closed its manufacturing plant in the country and will be producing from its sister company in Zimbabwe.
Tambala Food Products Managing Director Andrew Sande, whose company has since taken over the distribution of Zimbabwe-produced Sara Lee products confirmed the development in an interview yesterday.
“Yes, Sara Lee have stopped local production. They will be doing their production in Zimbabwe and they transferred the distribution task to us on the 9th of May. This is the date when they also closed down the production here,” said Santhe.
He said Tambala is working on commission basis and is responsible for selling and monitoring Sara Lee’s customers.
However, marketing of the products will remain the company’s responsibility, Santhe said.
He said he was not in a position to know why the company decided to pull out their production from the country.
But in an interview, Manufacturers Association of Malawi (Mam) acting chair Mahesha Kotecha said Sara Lee has been facing problems resulting from dumping and smuggling.
“There were similar but fake products that were coming into the country without duty and because of this, the products were being sold at a very cheap price. Because of this they [Sara Lee] found themselves in a very difficult situation,” said Kodecha.
He gave an example of Kiwi shoe polish which was being copied and sold at a much lower price than the Sara Lee Kiwi polish.
“It is sad because we have lost an industry which was very important to the country. Government is supposed to be checking this but it seems that either they have no facilities or they are just ignoring us,” said Kodecha.
He said smuggled goods from China, India and Zimbabwe are having negative effects on local products and warned that if the situation goes unabated, the manufacturing industry will ground to a halt.
“If you go to any of the wholesalers today, for example to buy Panadol or Conjex, it will not be a Pharmanova product but something from India being sold at a lower price than the local drugs. You can’t compete that way,” said Kotecha.
Unfair trade practices have forced companies like Lever Brothers, Malawi Pharmacies Limited (MPL), British American Tobacco (BAT), among others, to completely stop manufacturing some products or reduce the volume to prevent losses.
Sara Lee had about 300 employees and almost all of them have since lost their jobs. |
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