Zimbabwe’s state-run Cold Storage Company (CSC), once one of Southern Africa’s largest meat processors and a beef exporter to the European Union, is showing its strongest signs of recovery in two decades after being pushed to the brink of collapse by mounting debt.
The Bulawayo-based processor has trebled its daily slaughter figures from 50 to 150 head of cattle following upgrades to its processing and refrigeration facilities. Its refrigeration facilities can now accommodate 320 carcasses, although operations have yet to reach that level.
The recovery follows a US$9.3 million (about R153.5 million) cash injection last year from its parent company, the Mutapa Investment Fund (Zimbabwe’s sovereign wealth fund), which owns 100% of CSC. The funding helped settle most of the company’s outstanding debts and repair its Bulawayo abattoir.
Dr Anxious Masuka, Zimbabwe’s Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development, visited the facility to assess its progress.
“Today we are touring CSC here in Bulawayo where they are resuscitating their biggest abattoir to a processing capacity of at least 800 beasts a day. The established capacity now is 320 although they are slaughtering about 150 a day,” said Dr Masuka.
“So they are well on their way to ensuring that this capacity is rebuilt and we thank Mutapa Investment Fund for having provided the US$9.3 million loan that has enabled them to get to this stage.”
CSC was formed in 1937 and for decades dominated Zimbabwe’s beef industry. At its peak in the 1990s, it handled up to 150,000 tonnes of beef a year, employed over 2,200 workers, and held a 9,100-tonne annual quota to export beef to the EU, earning the country at least US$45 million a year.
Its decline began in 1992 when government deregulated the beef industry, and accelerated in 2001 when the EU suspended beef imports from Zimbabwe following an outbreak of Foot and Mouth Disease. Debt ballooned to over US$25 million, plants in Kadoma, Marondera and Chinhoyi closed, and slaughter rates collapsed.
A 2019 joint venture with British investor Boustead Beef, promising US$135 million over 25 years, also failed. Boustead injected only US$24 million before government terminated the deal in 2024. CSC was placed under corporate rescue in December 2020.
It officially exited corporate rescue on 16 October 2025, after creditors approved a revival plan crafted by corporate rescue practitioner Crispen Mwete.
Under the plan, Mutapa Investment Fund will invest US$56.3 million over three years to settle debts, revitalise infrastructure, restock cattle ranches and resume viable operations.
“When we took over this asset, there was really no activity here. We have upped the capacity at this Bulawayo facility, which is the flagship abattoir, to processing 320 cattle per day,” said Ernest Denhere, Deputy Chief Investment Officer at Mutapa Investment Fund.
“The capacity, if we finish our works, is 800 cattle per day, but currently we are doing about 150 cattle per day. So we are largely on track.
“The revival comes at a critical time. Zimbabwe is expecting below-normal rainfall for the 2026/27 season, with Matabeleland, Masvingo and Midlands under severe stress. Many farmers will be forced to destock.
Dr Masuka urged farmers to use CSC rather than panic-sell to middlemen at low prices. CSC is also resuscitating its 117,000-hectare ranches and the Willsgrove fattening plot, which has capacity for 5,000 cattle. It has also added a small-stock line for goats and sheep.
CSC is now seeking US$10 million in working capital for 2027 and a US$15 million cattle financing facility to support livestock production.
If the momentum holds, CSC could restore a reliable market for communal and commercial farmers, create jobs in Bulawayo, and put Zimbabwe back on the path to beef exports.
