HARARE — Cable manufacturer Cafca Limited is banking on sustained monetary stability, stronger export performance and continued investment in productive capacity to drive growth as the company navigates rising input costs and persistent global supply-chain disruptions.
The company says the improving domestic economic environment has given businesses greater visibility over costs and operations, making it easier to plan production and undertake longer-term investment.
For Cafca, that stability is already translating into higher demand. Group volumes increased by 20 percent in the nine months to June 30, 2026, compared with the corresponding period last year, with domestic sales volumes rising 21 percent and exports increasing 8 percent.
The company said the stronger performance reflected its ability to capture opportunities created by a more stable trading environment.
“Local volumes were up 21 percent whilst exports were up 8 percent due to better conversion of the opportunity presented by the stable trading environment,” Cafca said in its third-quarter trading update.
Stronger sales drive earnings
Cafca’s momentum accelerated during the third quarter, when sales volumes increased 32 percent year-on-year despite mounting pressure on the cost of imported raw materials.
The company said the improvement demonstrated strengthening trading conditions, although geopolitical tensions and disruptions to international supply chains continued to affect input availability and pricing.
The stronger volumes fed directly into the group’s financial performance. Revenue for the nine months was 31 percent higher than in the comparable period last year, supported by increased sales and price adjustments introduced to offset higher production costs.
The pricing measures became increasingly important as raw material costs rose by 36 percent year-on-year, underscoring the inflationary pressures still being transmitted through global supply chains.
Despite the sharp increase in input costs, Cafca said disciplined cost management helped limit the impact on profitability and allowed the business to extract greater operating leverage from higher volumes.
Profit before tax consequently surged 147 percent above the prior-year level.
Stability becomes a competitive advantage
Cafca’s performance highlights the importance of monetary and operational predictability for Zimbabwean manufacturers, particularly businesses that depend on imported industrial inputs.
A more stable monetary environment allows manufacturers to price products with greater confidence, plan inventories more effectively and make investment decisions over longer time horizons. It also improves the ability of companies to respond to demand rather than constantly adjusting operations to currency and cost volatility.
For Cafca, the combination of stronger domestic volumes, expanding exports and improved cost discipline has provided a platform for growth even as external risks remain elevated.
The company, however, warned that geopolitical shocks continue to pose risks to global supply chains, meaning the benefits of domestic stability could still be undermined by developments beyond Zimbabwe’s borders.
Its strategy therefore increasingly points towards a combination of domestic market growth and export diversification, while maintaining tight control over costs and investing in productive capacity.
The latest results suggest that, where monetary stability is accompanied by operational discipline, Zimbabwean manufacturers can convert improved economic predictability into higher volumes, stronger revenues and substantially better profitability.
