The RBZ recently published a list of their foreign currency auction beneficiaries for the whole year from July 2020 to July 2021. The list contains an astounding 1 632 beneficiaries who got a received at total of 1.5 billion Unite States dollars from the auction. The list also shows the sources of this foreign currency for this year starting in January of 2021 up to last month.

Below is the top 40 list of beneficiaries:

Rank	Name of bidder	Amount received this year January to July 2021	Amount received from June-December 2020	Total	Percentage Share
1	BLUE RIBBON FOODS LIMITED	12,953,325	10,498,404	23,451,729	1.5%
2	VARUN BEVERAGES (ZIMBABWE) (PVT) LTD	12,955,639	8,233,042	21,188,680	1.4%
3	CANGROW TRADING (PVT) LTD	9,860,170	8,690,105	18,550,275	1.2%
4	UNITED REFINERIES LTD	11,623,864	6,874,844	18,498,708	1.2%
5	WILLOWTON GROUP ZIMBABWE	10,735,798	5,210,883	15,946,681	1.0%
6	SURFACE WILMAR PVT LTD	8,207,727	7,646,492	15,854,219	1.0%
7	OLIVINE INDUSTRIES	8,723,045	5,935,069	14,658,114	0.9%
8	PURE OIL INDUSTRIES (PVT) LTD	7,479,526	6,848,464	14,327,990	0.9%
9	DAIRIBORD ZIMBABWE P/L	9,076,656	4,832,119	13,908,776	0.9%
10	ZIMBABWEAN BRANDS	6,594,342	5,381,089	11,975,431	0.8%
11	ZFC LIMITED	7,637,489	4,186,899	11,824,387	0.8%
12	DENDAIRY	6,697,534	4,560,585	11,258,120	0.7%
13	Windmill (Pvt) Ltd	5,776,054	5,389,954	11,166,008	0.7%
14	SABLE CHEMICAL INDUSTRIES	6,851,786	3,651,978	10,503,764	0.7%
15	TELONE (PRIVATE) LIMITED	6,174,254	3,965,149	10,139,403	0.7%
16	NATIONAL FOODS	2,207,334	7,497,000	9,704,334	0.6%
17	NATPAK PRIVATE LIMITED	4,854,421	4,566,081	9,420,501	0.6%
18	HUNYANI PAPER & PACKAGING (1997) (PVT) LTD	4,379,555	4,652,932	9,032,487	0.6%
19	PRODAIRY (PVT) LTD	4,990,479	3,442,445	8,432,924	0.5%
20	SCHWEPPES ZIMBABWE LIMITED	7,443,038	736,297	8,179,335	0.5%
21	BARZEM ENTERPRISES (PVT) LTD	5,471,841	2,124,114	7,595,955	0.5%
22	ZUVA PETROLEUM (PVT) LTD	4,012,979	3,514,345	7,527,324	0.5%
23	TREGER PRODUCTS	6,071,907	1,314,181	7,386,087	0.5%
24	CAPRI APPLIANCES (PVT) LTD	5,086,325	2,173,409	7,259,733	0.5%
25	MASHWEDE DIESEL SERVICES	3,471,532	3,644,828	7,116,360	0.5%
26	JP MORGAN	4,202,512	2,863,016	7,065,528	0.5%
27	AGRI VALUE CHAIN ZIMBABWE (PVT) LTD	3,287,981	3,540,983	6,828,965	0.4%
28	BLACKBOX INVESTMENTS (PVT) LTD	3,851,324	2,916,054	6,767,378	0.4%
29	ALL COMMODITY EXPORTS P/L	5,156,011	1,555,601	6,711,612	0.4%
30	VALLEY SEEDS ZIMBABWE PVT LTD	2,122,740	4,300,000	6,422,740	0.4%
31	RAWFERT OFFSHORE SAL	3,460,718	2,869,028	6,329,746	0.4%
32	MEGAPAK ZIMBABWE PVT LTD	4,408,447	1,906,111	6,314,558	0.4%
33	BANK OF NEW YORK MELLON	3,849,401	2,346,589	6,195,991	0.4%
34	THE ZIMBABWE BATA SHOE COMPANY (PVT) LTD	3,744,021	2,424,895	6,168,916	0.4%
35	PROBRANDS (PVT) LTD	4,245,448	1,903,984	6,149,432	0.4%
36	Farmec (Pvt) Ltd	3,537,028	2,574,280	6,111,308	0.4%
37	Reinforced Steel Contractors (Pvt) Ltd	3,794,481	2,166,542	5,961,023	0.4%
38	ESSAR TUBES AND TOWERS	3,129,630	2,805,000	5,934,630	0.4%
39	STATE STREET BANK	3,173,751	2,687,940	5,861,691	0.4%
40	BOC ZIMBABWE (PVT) LTD T/A BOC GASES	3,199,759	2,488,982	5,688,741	0.4%

NB. According to the RBZ, 70% of the money went towards the purchase of raw materials. Whether you hate or like the auction that is a remarkable and commendable feat indeed. The jury is still out on whether the auction is bigger than the informal forex market though. The informal market remains the main source of finance for the informal sector which is mostly made up of SMEs. In comparison, only US$172 861 399 was disbursed to SMEs through the formal market.