Capacity utilisation for large manufacturing companies increased by 4,7 percentage points to 57,3 percent in the second quarter of this year compared to 53,2 percent in the first quarter, amid optimistic prospects about the general business climate.
According to the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (ZimStat) Second Quarter 2025 business tendency survey for manufacturing, capacity utilisation for small to medium manufacturing companies stood at 46,5 percent during the period under review.
ZimStat did not give comparative figures for the SMEs sector.
“Overall, the manufacturing sectors’ combined capacity utilisation in the second quarter of 2025 was 48,2 percent, up from 47,7 percent in the first quarter of 2025,” Mrs Kuda Chiguma, manager of industry statistics at ZimStat, said during a virtual presentation of
the survey results.
Mrs Chiguma said 25,3 percent of the respondents expressed optimism about the general business climate in the second quarter of 2025.
Mining sector capacity utilisation for the second quarter of 2025 was 56 percent, up from 55,4 percent recorded in the first quarter of 2025.
Mrs Chiguma said that 25 percent of the mining sector respondents also expressed optimism about the general business climate during the period under review.
In terms of production levels, about 50 percent of respondents in the manufacturing sector viewed the levels in the second quarter of 2025 as having remained unchanged.
Mrs Chiguma said about 23 percent were of the view that the capacity levels had increased.
“For the mining sector, 70,3 percent of the respondents perceived that production levels had remained the same over the second quarter of 2025,” she said.
In terms of sentiment towards employment, excluding seasonal variations, 69,4 percent of respondents in the manufacturing sector reported that their firm’s total employment levels remained unchanged during the second quarter of 2025.
In the mining sector, 79,1 percent of the respondents indicated that the employment levels had remained the same in the second quarter of 2025.
Regarding the level of order books for the second quarter, 56,8 percent of the respondents in the manufacturing sector considered them normal for the season.
“Around 78 percent of respondents in the mining sector considered total order books normal for the season,” reads part of the survey.
In terms of the stocks of finished goods, about 7 percent of respondents in the manufacturing sector and 2,2 percent in the mining sector considered stocks of finished goods in the second quarter of 2025 as normal for the season. – Herald
