User:Warrenjs1/sandbox
| Company type | Marketing board |
|---|---|
| Industry | Meat industry |
| Founded | 1938 |
| Headquarters | Zimbabwe |
| Products | Beef, Pork, Poultry |
Number of employees | 4,700 (1987) |
The Cold Storage Commission (CSC) is a government-owned corporation in Zimbabwe.
History
[edit]The CSC was established in 1938 by the nationalisation of the Rhodesian Export and Cold Storage Company Ltd. (RECSCO), a subsidiary of the Imperial Cold Storage and Supply Company. RECSCO had been established in 1924 by a partnership between Imperial Cold Storage and the Southern Rhodesian government, in which the government granted Imperial Cold Storage a monopoly over meat exports and guaranteed the company up to ₤15,000 against possible losses for 10 years. In return Imperial Cold Storage was obliged to invest funds and expertise in Southern Rhodesia to develop infrastructure for a chilled and frozen beef export industry.
The performance of RECSCO was widely criticised by cattle farmers and the government, who claimed that Imperial Cold Storage was taking advantage of the government-guaranteed funds without investing sufficiently in the Rhodesian industry, as well as paying uneconomically low prices for cattle. The government made use of a clause in the agreement with Imperial Cold Storage allowing the company to be expropiated after seven years of operation, with an arbitrated compensation amount if no agreement could be reached. The company was unco-operative during expropriation, but by May 1938 RECSCO had been reconstituted as the six-member Cold Storage Commission of Southern Rhodesia, a public utility company with a monopoly 'for the purpose of acquiring, establishing and operating abattoirs and refrigerating works for the purpose of chilling, freezing and storing beef, mutton, pork, poultry and other meat foods for export or for consumption within the colony.'