- Year-on-year sales volumes fell 14%, despite a strong 31% quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) rebound in Q3 2025
- Statutory Instrument 157 of 2024 liberalised Zimbabwe’s cable market, intensifying competition and exposing CAFCA to cheap and counterfeit imports
- Aluminium substitution requires higher volume to match copper’s conductivity, limiting competitiveness in high-value applications
Harare - Zimbabwe Stock Exchange–listed cable manufacturer CAFCA Limited has reported a 14% slump in sales volumes year-on-year, despite a strong quarter-on-quarter rebound of 31% in the third quarter ended 30 June 2025.
Production declined 4% during the period, while exports remained flat due to liquidity challenges in regional markets.
This weighed heavily on the topline, with revenue down 5% year-on-year, according to the company’s latest trading update.
A closer look shows the performance is less a reflection of weak operations and more the result of structural headwinds both domestic and global.
Domestically, CAFCA has been squeezed by Statutory Instrument 157 of 2024, which liberalised the cable market and opened the floodgates to imports. The move intensified competition, eroded margins, and worsened the company’s exposure to cheap, often counterfeit products.
The impact has been most severe in the mining and utilities sectors traditionally strong revenue pillars. Mining sector volumes fell a staggering 62%, reflecting subdued investment as commodity prices cooled. Utilities demand dropped 49%, as liquidity shortages and stalled project rollouts curtailed procurement.
In contrast, retail and distribution volumes grew 23%, buoyed by stronger engagement with distributors and a revamped factory shop reception.
Globally, rising input costs have eroded CAFCA’s competitiveness. Copper prices are up 15% year-to-date and aluminium 28%, costs the company absorbed to retain market share.
The copper surge, often touted as a boon for mining economies, has been toxic for downstream manufacturers who rely on the metal as a raw material.
This dynamic has accelerated CAFCA’s strategic pivot towards aluminium, a cheaper alternative. In Q1 2025, aluminium conductor volumes surged 74% year-on-year, compared to copper’s 13% growth. To cement this shift, CAFCA commissioned a new stranding machine to boost aluminium capacity aligning with global industry trends that increasingly favour aluminium in power transmission and construction cabling.
The substitution however comes with trade-offs ,aluminium requires more volume to match copper’s conductivity, and in precision applications, copper remains irreplaceable.
This exposes CAFCA to margin squeezes in high-value markets where global rivals like Nexans and Prysmian Group have invested heavily in R&D to offset aluminium’s technical limitations.
Adding to the strain, U.S. trade policy shifts have rattled supply chains. President Donald Trump reinstated punitive tariffs on industrial metals, with a 25% tariff on imported copper products and 10% on aluminium, fuelling price volatility.
African manufacturers like CAFCA, already disadvantaged by currency instability and high energy costs, are left absorbing global price shocks without the cushion of scale or policy protection.
CAFCA’s woes mirror broader turbulence in metals markets. In February 2025, Impala Platinum (Implats) announced it might close its Canadian palladium mines earlier than planned after profits slumped to R1.85 billion (US$100m), citing persistently weak prices.
For Zimbabwe, the slump in base metals has undercut mining activity and by extension, CAFCA’s sales pipeline even as gold receipts have remained resilient.
From a product perspective, copper cables declined 6% year-to-date, while aluminium conductors fell 37% in Q3, reflecting pricing pressures and disrupted demand cycles.
The company has shifted from three shifts to two and introduced a new production planning model to drive efficiency.
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