Local products affected by cheap imports.

Our country has been through a lot of ups and downs, its a  young nation, but an old country - with respect to art and craft that has survived for more than 12 000 years. Among the problems faced by Zimbabwe is that citizens fail to buy local products and go for foreign goods.

This hits heavy on the already foreign currency  dependent country. The effects of all this hits heavy on the development of the nation. The impact of the economic crisis on the manufacturing sector is so huge as the  local industry has to compete with goods from countries with low cost bases of which most of the foreign companies that export goods into this country are awarded export incentives by their governments.

Though most of the local products are of superior quality than the imported ones, consumers end up having no choice but to go for the foreign products which are mostly cheap.

chibuku (picture from internet source)

      Zimbabwe hosted the “Buy Zimbabwe” conference, seeking to promote consumption of locally-produced goods and services in light of the influx of imports.The event was structured as a promotional platform for different economic sectors to shift towards practical implementation of solutions to create value for local companies struggling to meet consumer demand due to the challenging economic environment.

The conference focused on growing Zimbabwe’s local base Among issues  discussed were how local companies could harmonise their operations and take advantage of the local and regional legislative environment to increase their market share. It is believed that consumers have shifted their taste towards foreign goods and services because local producers have failed to address their quality concerns.