Just as 2022 was coming to a close, the government of Zimbabwe extended the suspension of duty on imported powdered milk and raw cheese for various strategic companies. Generally, concentrated milk attracts a duty of 10% per kg while natural milk attracts a duty of about 40% per kg. Cheese attracts a duty of 40% plus US$0.50 per kilogram. Both tariffs are meant to protect the local dairy industry from foreign competition. However certain companies are exempt from duty for reasons that become obvious once you learn their names.

Companies on the list of exemptions include Dairibord Zimbabwe, Dendary Private Limited, Milkzim, Nestle and Prodairy. These are the companies that are supposed to be protected by the duty on milk and cheese. The truth is that sometimes these companies cannot meet local demand using locally sourced milk. To complement that local milk, the government allows them to import given quotas of milk and cheese from outside Zimbabwe. According to the SI 222 of 2022, this allowed quota will continue to decrease each year. The hope here is that the local dairy industry will continue to grow and reduce the milk shortfall in Zimbabwe through investment and eventually there will be less need to plug the gap.

Just like with powdered milk local cheese makers are also allowed to import a certain quota of raw cheese from abroad. The quota is also expected to diminish with each passing year in order to encourage investment in the dairy industry and force the cheesemakers to find a local source for their cheese.

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