Good rains revive expectations #zimbabwe

Hippo Valley Estates sugar production in the 2014/ 15
season is expected to be around the same levels as the
past year at 239 338 tonnes, chief executive Sydney
Mtsambiwa said.In a trading update at the AGM, Mr
Mtsambiwa said the goods rains have revived the industry's
expectations of restoring sugar production to installed
capacity of around 640 000 tonnes by 2017-18.
"The underlying driver remains the availability of irrigating
water but the February rains had brought sufficient supplies
for the remainder of the season."
The replanting programme has resumed and is now back on
track and is gaining momentum with sugar production
expected to progressively increase over the next four years.
He said the liquidity crisis remains a major drag on
operations but there were good prospects the environment
would return to normal.
Sales were currently in line with expectations.
Mr Mtsambiwa said trading conditions had improved
following regulatory interventions.
Government introduced a 10 percent duty on sugar imports
and $100 for every tonne brought in.
"The amount of imports, which adversely affected our
topline last year, have come down. We have also
maintained competitive price levels."
He also noted there had been a modest offtake of the
domestic market
while discussions are ongoing with a more focused
approach on Team Zimbabwe.
Mr Mtsambiwa said starafrica was now drawing down on
raw sugar following its re-start and will contribute to
volume improvement.
Internationally, Mr Mtsambiwa said the markets were very
dicey with prices ranging from 13-14c/pound and what
would be key would be how they were balancing the
portfolio in order to offset the impact of the low prices.