SWAN Valley Group has invested US$15 million in installing cigarette production and processing lines as it seeks to assert its presence on the local market, businessdigest can report
Swan Valley Group is a Zimbabwean tobacco value-chain company operating in contracting, processing and manufacturing.
Its subsidiaries include Swan Valley Tobacco, Swan Valley Processing and Swan Valley International.
The company’s managing director, Mutemwa Ushewokunze, told businessdigest that this was the initial investment, which would increase in the long term.
“We have spent about US$15 million, if I add all the numbers up. It is a moving target,” he said on the sidelines of an event organised to launch its range of products last week.
“We are only in phase one and we have purchased an additional production line, which we expect to arrive sometime before the end of the year. We have also purchased a processing line, which we expect to commission next year.”
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The company intended to produce a target of 20 000 crates of cigarettes every month.
“Essentially, what we are trying to do is target around 20 000 master cases of cigarettes per month. If I put that in the context of kilogrammes, let us just call it 160 000kg of cigarettes per month in terms of production.”
He added that in the long-term, the firm intends to inject US$28 million over the next three years through the acquisition of new production and processing lines set to enhance efficiency and output.
Ushewokunze said: “This goal reflects a vision, not just for local distribution, but also for international export, tapping into a global market that remains largely untapped in Zimbabwe.”
According to him, the group contracts an estimated 4 000 farmers.
The number, he said, is expected to increase to 6 000 by next year.
This increase is expected to yield approximately 20 million kg of tobacco being produced by small scale farmers across the country.
In response to power shortages, the company is investing in renewable energy solutions to reduce manufacturing costs.
“We are forced to make significant investments in growing renewable energy. I think if the power situation sorts itself out, it really contributes to lowering production costs. Outside of that, everybody has been really supportive in terms of our start-up process,” he added.
Nqobizitha Mangaliso Ndhlovu, Minister of Industry and Commerce, commended the organisation for its critical role in Zimbabwe’s structural development.
“This initiative resonates very well with our national aspirations of reducing reliance on raw exports and establishing Zimbabwe as a hub for high-value tobacco products,” Ndhlovu said.