Delta increases supply to meet growing demand

LISTED beverages producer, Delta Corporation, says growing consumer demand has resulted in temporary soft drink shortages in the market and has reassured the public that efforts are underway to ramp up output to meet the expected high demand during the festive season.

Many retail outlets are running out of soft drinks and bottled water and customers fear the situation could get worse during the festive season.

“The reported shortage of our branded soft drinks in the market was due to supply constraints as demand outweighed supply,” said Delta’s general manager of corporate affairs, Dr Patricia Murambinda.

She said since the company launched the dollar deals campaign in September, it has witnessed an increased uptake of its products.

“We are increasing supply to cover the increased demand, benefiting from the investment in Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) capacity earlier in the year. We believe we will be able to meet demand during the festive period,” said Dr Murambinda.

Under the dollar deals customers buy four bottles of 300ml soft drinks for US$1 and two 500ml PET bottles also for US$1.

The company has undertaken several flagship projects, including a new lager beer glass packaging line, a PET packaging line and the Chibuku Super plant and packaging line, to enhance its production capacity.

“The sparkling beverages volume grew by 17 percent for the six months compared to the same period last year, with the volume recovery accelerating in the second quarter,” said Delta in its second-quarter trade update.

The company said the growth was spurred by the improved supply of PET packs following the commissioning of a new packaging line at Graniteside, Harare, which has allowed for keener pricing and increased availability of packs and flavours.

Dr Murambinda expressed concern at increased cases of smuggling of products from neighbouring countries which she said needed a co-ordinated approach by the authorities to tackle this issue.

She said smuggling affects multiple sectors of the economy and should therefore be addressed urgently.

Delta has assured customers that it will strive to meet demand of its products during this coming festive season as it has already made investments to boost production.-chronicle