Proton Bakers installs US$3,6 million plant

PROTON Bakers, one of the country’s biggest bread producers, has embarked on an expansion drive involving installation of a new US$3,6 million plant in Marondera, which will increase output by 60 000 loaves of bread per day, a senior official of the company said yesterday.

Jerry Tselentis, the company’s managing director, said the improving economic environment in the country had persuaded Proton Bakers to make the investment.

That will increase the company’s daily bread output to 200 000 loaves, in addition to a variety of confectionery products.

Tselentis said Proton Bakers has had to build new factory facilities as part of the expansion project, which will see it compete aggressively against other top tier rivals in the local bread market.

The company has recently also increased its transport fleet, and expanded its Harare and Bulawayo distribution depots as part of the growth strategy.

“Obviously, this business extension project required massive effort and extensive further capitalisation in many other areas too in order to accommodate the accompanying supporting network structure, necessary for project roll out and execution,” Tselentis said.

But he said the variance in currency between costs and income, where the greenback dominated in the former case, and the local currency in the latter, had become worrisome.

“One of the most challenging problems we face, is that our most significant production and distribution costs are exclusively charged in US dollars, while we are required to sell our products in both local and foreign currencies,” he said.

“Inflation volatilities in our local currency results in increased bread costs and this impacts the overall growth possibilities and overall profitability of the company.”

Despite the trading challenges, Tselentis said Proton Bakers remained optimistic, and was gearing to expand in the local market. — New Ziana