"We are just operating from hand to mouth. We definitely need to increase production, but unfortunately the economy is quite slow. We need to increase our production and then we will reach a stage of profitability." These are the words of Glenn Mirtle, the manager of Ref-Air, a company that makes refrigeration panels and cabinets in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe.For more than a month, the firm's production plant in the Belmont industrial area has been quiet. Workers in blue overalls mill around, sweep the floors and chat.Like the few other companies in Bulawayo that are still operational, Ref-Air has resorted to a system of asking workers to report for duty only when there are orders.Today it has the orders, but not the raw materials needed for production.The steel it uses for the refrigeration panels was seized at the Beitbridge border post by Zimbabwe Revenue Authority officials this month.story_article_left1The revenue authorities said the steel was on the list of products not allowed into Zimbabwe under Statutory Instrument 64. Without an import licence, which costs $30 (about R426), the revenue authority charges a penalty of $2000 per product. It collects $2-million a day at Beitbridge - and the government said that could be more if smuggling were not rampant.Mirtle insists, however, that the type of steel his company uses is not on the restricted imports list. The border officials, he said, were overzealous - making their own interpretation and imposing blanket charges, which stifled businesses even further."We made a bank transfer to our supplier in South Africa for the steel, but the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe took three weeks before it effected the transfer. After that long delay, the truck with the steel was then held up at Beitbridge border post," he said.Industry in Zimbabwe is struggling.The local market is shrinking, competition against imports from South Africa and China is stiff, financing is rare and power outages mean a severe loss in production time.Singapore-based BMI Research warned this week that foreign investors would remain cautious towards Zimbabwe, as the issue of political succession threatens the economy."We expect the ongoing dollar shortage to continue, constraining business activity in the economy," it said.Bulawayo is Zimbabwe's second-largest city and was once its industrial hub. However, the city has experienced an accelerated collapse of its industries since 2011, two years after the adoption of the US dollar as the country's main currency.The ministry of industry and commerce puts company closures in Bulawayo at more than 100 and job losses at over 20000 people since 2011. Relocations to the capital, Harare, have been widespread.In light of the carnage in Bulawayo, President Robert Mugabe said in August 2013 that the city had become an "industrial scrap yard".Still, the "industrial scrapyard" was the scene for this year's annual congress of the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries, the largest and most influential private-sector representative body.story_article_right2Across town from the quiet Belmont industrial area, the three-day indaba, which ended on Friday, was being held under the theme "Strengthening Value Chains for Sustainable Industrialisation and Economic Development".At the congress, Mike Bimha, the industry and commerce minister, delivered an impassioned plea. "I implore the private sector to take the lead and government will follow," Bimha told the captains of industry and business leaders gathered at the Rainbow Hotel in Bulawayo's CBD.The indaba showed support for local industry. Bottled water produced locally by Border Streams and Aqualite was on tables, as was the locally produced Mazoe orange crush and ice mint sweets and chocolates made by Pascall.South Africa's envoy to Zimbabwe, Mphakama Mbete, cut a lonely figure at the conference as speakers backed the interventionist import policy of the government, which has brought distress to South African businesses heavily reliant on exports to Zimbabwe.A delegate asked Bimha if he would add to the list of 43 restricted goods. "I don't know, I can't give you a specific answer about that yet," Bimha replied.The concern over the import restrictions does not seem to worry the minister."Just like with any medicine, we are told that there could be side effects in taking it. So what we are experiencing and seeing are just the side effects of this medication," he said.rayzr21@gmail.com..