NATIONAL Foods says volumes for the year were 553 000 tonnes, three percent below last year, mainly due to volume losses in the Flour unit in its annual report for 2023. This, according to the company’s 2023 annual report, was on the back of significantly higher global grain prices which dampened consumption.
Revenue increased by 21,7 percent to US$343 million. Average selling prices increased from US$495 per tonne to US$621 per tonne year-on-year driven by the substantially higher raw material costs. “Our strategy was to minimise price increases and maintain demand and hence the full extent of raw material inflation was not passed on to the consumer, resulting in gross margin dollars being flat year-on-year, in spite of the much higher revenue,” chairman Todd Moyo said.