Wondering why Dairibord cheese, once a staple on Zimbabwean store shelves, has disappeared? The answer lies in the problems local manufacturers face—rising costs, bad regulation, and supply troubles.
Dairibord is Zimbabwe’s largest dairy producer. In 2024, it bought 42.2 million litres of milk from farmers, a big increase of 49% from 2023. The company dominates the raw milk market, taking up 37% of what farmers produce. So, with all this milk, where’s the cheese?
According to CEO Mercy Ndoro, the trouble with cheese is that Zimbabwe can no longer make it profitably.
Making cheese: The cost
To make gouda cheese—the variety that matures the fastest—Dairibord would have to buy milk and let it mature for six weeks.
“So, the question is; do we have that luxury to buy milk from the farmer and park it for six weeks, when we have to pay the farmers every two weeks, and then take the cheese to the retailer?” Ndoro says. “And, when you look at cheese, it’s a product for the formal trade. So you’re taking it to a retailer who will pay you after 20 days. The working capital cycle is long.”
Zimbabwe produced 114.7 million litres of milk in 2024, up 15% from the previous year. This is good news; dairy is recovering. But this is still short of the national demand of 140 million litres per year. This means most of Dairibord’s milk goes directly into making the milk we buy in the shops, leaving little else for other products like cheese and powdered milk.
Then there’s the cost of raw milk. Zimbabwean dairy farmers charge an average of 63 US cents per litre—higher than in South Africa (40 cents), Malawi (26 cents), and Zambia (50 cents).
“So, cheese is coming in from South Africa into Zimbabwe. If we were going to produce cheese again in Zimbabwe, it would be very expensive cheese, which nobody can afford,” Ndoro says.
Even if Dairibord wanted to restart cheese production, it would need to invest in new equipment.
“Lots of the equipment that we used back then is now antiquated and would need replacement to make those products,” Ndoro points out.
Zimbabwe does have many other popular local cheese brands, such as Kefalos, Cheeseman, Vumba and Matopos. But Dairibord’s exit from the market shows the broader struggles manufacturers face—high utility costs, taxes, and what Dairibord calls “evolving regulatory policies”.
The impact shows in Dairibord’s 2024 financial results. The company worked hard to grow volumes, but faced major cost pressures. Beverage sale volumes rose just 1%, weighed down by the sugar tax on maheu and changes to VAT classifications. The VAT reclassification alone cost Dairibord $630,000, while the sugar tax added another $2.26 million in costs.
Despite this, Dairibord posted a $3.78 million profit in 2024, up from $1 million the previous year. To ease local production pressures, the company continues to manufacture some products in South Africa under toll manufacturing contracts.
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