Cape Times 2023-07-05

MASSMART’S Makro has proven to be the cheapest retailer for consumers to fill up their grocery baskets with basic items for the third month in a row. According to data from Outlier- africa, which looks at in-store prices of the same basket of goods across eight major retailers, Makro ranked as the cheapest store to buy goods from, with the most expensive being Pick n Pay, for the month of June 2023. The basket is made up of basic goods that most people are likely to have in their homes and use every day. The prices of 12 products from eight major retailers: Shoprite, Checkers, Pick n Pay, Spar, Food Lover’s Market, Woolworths, Makro and Boxer Superstores were collected for the price comparison. “As of June…

THE SLOWDOWN in fuel prices in South Africa could possibly be short-lived after global oil prices rose by 1.9% to above the $76-mark (R1 426) per barrel yesterday due to extended production cuts in August, and possibly beyond. The markets were jittery yesterday after top oil exporters Saudi Arabia and Russia announced additional output cuts for Brent crude for August in a bid to boost prices, against signs of slowing global growth and weakening demand. On Monday, Saudi Arabia an- nounced that it would extend its voluntary cut of 1 million barrels per day to August, extending its June production cut in the hope of boosting prices. Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter, is counting on higher oil prices to finance an ambitious reform programme that could…

RCL foods has predicted its headline earnings per share to be at least 35.6 cents lower for the year to June 2023 than the 118.6 cents a year before, with the uncertainty in the local sugar industry mainly to blame. RCL Foods said in a trading statement yesterday that headline earnings per share were expected to be at least 30% lower, due to a special levy raised by the South African Sugar Association (SASA) on its sugar business unit, the significant impact of load shedding across all operations, and unrecovered feed costs by Rainbow. The poultry and sugar group expects earning per share to be at least 34.2 cents lower than in the comparative period reported EPS of 114.0 cents. The group said the South African sugar industry was in…

Copper 360 says metallurgical test results have confirmed a high copper recovery Junior miner Copper 360 says metallurgical test results have confirmed a high copper recovery and concentrate grade at its Rietberg copper mine drill core in the Northern Cape. Copper 360 is the only pure copper player on the JSE, and was created through a merger of the Northern Cape copper rights and projects headed by mining entrepreneur Shirley Hayes’s Ship mining company, and the SX-EW, solvent extraction electrowinning plant set up by Jan Nelson to recover copper from dump material on the site of the former O’kiep Copper Mine at Nababeep. The group was listed on the bourse only about two months ago and shares surged by up to R20. When it listed it traded at R5 per…

SOUTH Africa’s agricultural exports fell 2% year-on-year in the first quarter to $2.9 billion (R54.5bn), but were 5% higher than the last quarter of 2022, according to Agricultural Business Chamber chief economist Wandile Sihlobo. He said South Africa’s agricultural sector had a rough start to the year when it came to production and exports. “The excessive rains brought production challenges that delayed the summer crop planting activity by roughly a month, but later improved. “Regarding exports, slowing agricultural commodity prices reduced profitability from the levels farmers enjoyed a year ago, specifically grains and oilseeds,” Sihlobo said. Moreover, some logistical challenges persisted in Cape Town port and this had negatively affected table grape and various horticultural product exports. “Still, this was not as harsh as in the previous years. The…

FOLLOWING the High Court’s recent judgement in a dispute between ama- Bhungane and the Moti Group, which ruled in the publication’s favour, the group said it had noted the judgement which was just the first round of an ongoing legal process. In a statement, the group said: “The Moti Group has studied the judgement and firmly believes that a factual finding was not made on amaBhungane’s possession of stolen documents. “The organisation is now considering its legal options going forward, including an approach to the Constitutional Court, as this matter relates to the constitutional right to privacy.” “We still believe strongly that it is unlawful for any media house to publish and make use of stolen documents,” Dondo Mogajane, the CEO of the Moti Group said. “There is no hierarchy…