Packaging manufacturer Nampak Zimbabwe Limited (NZL) – 51.43 percent owned by South Africa’s Nampak Limited – says the ongoing global tensions are going to continue exerting cost pressures on all its business units in the medium term.
This comes as the Middle East conflict has disrupted global supply chains and triggered spikes in raw material costs following the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz – a major passage for oil, metals and agricultural goods.
“Despite the revenue performance, profitability remains under pressure through rising costs and competitive market pricing to compete effectively given changed market dynamics,” said the group, which reported a nine percent revenue growth to US$67.8 million in the nine months to 30 June 2026, compared to the prior year.
NZL said: “Heightened geopolitical tensions in the Gulf region together with the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict are expected to sustain operating costs pressure across all the business units in the medium term.”
The group said “metal packaging volumes declined significantly compared to the prior year because of subdued market demand and raw material supply chain disruptions”.
“In addition, the recent antiimmigrant demonstrations in South Africa may negatively affect regional economic activity through increased repatriation of foreign nationals and disruption to diaspora remittance flows,” NZL said.
Group volumes for the nine-month period were up 16 percent on prior year.
Third quarter volumes were four percent above prior year, driven by improved demand across the plastic and tobacco packaging categories.
NZL said volumes are, however, anticipated to improve modestly across all the business units in the final quarter of the financial year.
Looking forward, the group said it expects to benefit from the larger tobacco crop, within the paper segment, as well as continued volume recovery in the plastics segment.