CONFECTIONERY maker Lobels Bread Holdings has been hit by a shortage of wheat at the Bulawayo factory and has not been producing brown bread at its plant for the past few weeks.
MTHANDAZO NYONI OWN CORRESPONDENT
Lobels Bulawayo delivers bread to outlets up to Kwekwe.Quite a number of consumers have been affected by the shortage of brown bread.
A Lobel’s official told Southern Eye Business that they were no longer producing brown bread at their Bulawayo factory due to wheat shortage.
“We have not been producing brown bread because of a wheat shortage,” the official said without elaborating.
A snap survey by Southern Eye Business yesterday proved that there indeed was a shortage of brown bread in most retail outlets.
No official comment could be obtained from Lobels as both Bulawayo and Harare offices kept referring this publication to the other.
Lobels was at one time the leading bread maker in the country and produced up to 400 000 loaves a day at its peak and had 40% of the market share.
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But there was a sharp decline in production due to inadequate funding for retooling and supporting operations and competition worsened the situation.
In the past few years and well before the arrival of new investors, Lobels struggled with a $19 million debt that forced its closure in 2011.
The company acquired new semi-automated equipment worth $5,8 million from South Africa to boost production.
This enabled the Harare bakery to increase capacity to 200 000 loaves per day while Bulawayo doubled capacity from 50 000 to 100 000 loaves a day. Lobels currently employs 500 people at its Bulawayo and 900 in Harare.
