Edible oil manufacturer Bidco struggling, halves production

Thika, Friday, April 28, 2023

K.N.A By Muoki Charles

As several companies continue to suffer from financial turmoil occasioned by the high cost of doing business, edible oil manufacturer Bidco has not been left behind, with the company being forced to half its production.

The company Group Director Chris Diaz said they are currently running at slightly over 50 percent due to various constraints bedeviling the manufacturing sector.

Speaking when Trade and Investment officials toured the Thika based company on a fact-check mission on its operations yesterday, Diaz said the high cost of power, huge inflation, high taxation and dollar shortage has threatened their operations.

Diaz said if the challenges are not addressed on time, then the future of the manufacturing sector might be bleak.

He said reducing production by half meant reduced workforce, low income flows thereby affecting profit margins.

"We cannot get enough of our main raw material, crude palm oil due to the dollar shortages. We have to rely on imports from global exporters and are expensive. The cost of power is also threatening production, ” Diaz noted..

He at the same time called for the harmonization of tax tariffs among Comesa countries for ease in doing business, saying in most cases, local manufacturers are disadvantaged by being made to pay more.

To stay afloat and competitive, the Director said they are working on a programme to manufacture affordable products targeting various cadres of customers.

This, he said, involves stocking various sizes of products in the shelves in the smallest of quantities so as to reach the very low of the customer cost-wise.

“For instance, if it's cooking oil, we are now stocking from the highest number of litres to very lowest, so as not to lock out some target customers out of our products,” he said.

He also called on farmers who have sunflower, cornflower and soybeans to sell them at the company to ease product availability.

Leonard Mambo, a representative from the Trade and Investment Ministry said the government is working on improving value chains in various industry sectors in order to save the manufacturing sector from crashing.

He said the oil seeds sector employs more than 40,000 people directly and that the government will provide incentives and interventions to save it from economic shocks.

Among the interventions, he said, involves ensuring availability of raw materials and reducing overreliance on importations.

“Through supporting the different value chains in the various manufacturing sub-sectors, the government will seek to save the companies from the financial turbulence being witnessed world over,” Mambo said.

Courtesy K.N.A