Treger faces bleak future

The collapse of steel production in Zimbabwe is negatively impacting on business, with companies such as Treger Products, who use large quantities of the commodity, facing a difficult future.

Zimbabwe's steel production is currently in the doldrums following the collapse of Ziscosteel in 2008 due to choking financial constraints.

Before its collapse, Zisco was the largest integrated steel works company in Africa, with a capacity to produce one million tonnes of the commodity annually.

Efforts to revive Zisco suffered a stillbirth, with mining giant Essar Africa Holdings, which had promised to inject $650 million, pulling out due to political bickering.

Meanwhile Tongaat Hulett is pinning hopes on Zimbabwe's economic recovery to boost its operations in the impoverished southern African country.

The group's chief executive Peter Staude said improved economic activities in the country will result in increased sugar consumption.

This comes as the company's production and sales volume in the first half of 2016 were actively consistent with the prior year, notwithstanding a later start to the current season and a higher proportion of production expected in the second half of the current year.