Cape Times 2023-06-02

AS THE COST of living crisis continues to bite in South Africa, along with the country’s high energy costs and load shedding, many consumers are looking for ways to cut back on their monthly budgets, and so are big companies. The Shoprite Group said that 1 million LED light bulbs had saved the company R346 million in electricity costs. The group said that it had reduced its electricity consumption by 11.8% following the installation of 1 001 932 energy-efficient LED light bulbs at 1 647 of its supermarkets and distribution centres nationwide. “This has eased pressure on the national electricity grid as well as generated savings of 164 million kW/h and R346m in electricity costs for the group during its 2022/2023 financial year,” it…

The depressed levels last have been seen three years ago at height of Covid-19 SENTIMENT in South Africa’s manu- facturing industry over business conditions in the next six months has plunged to depressed levels last seen three years ago at the height of Covid-19 restrictions due to fears of unprecedented levels of power cuts this winter. The seasonally adjusted Absa Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI), released yesterday, remained firmly in the contractionary territory as it fell to 49.2 index points in May, from 49.8 points in April. The latest reading pointed to the fourth consecutive month of contraction in manufacturing activity during a sharp deterioration in the business outlook to its weakest since early 2020, amid the ongoing power crisis in South Africa. Absa’s senior economist, Miyelani Maluleke, said: “This…

THE AGRICULTURE sector yesterday warned that food security is at stake after the Department of Water and Sanitation recently published draft revised regulations on water use licence applications with ambitious transformation targets for public comment. The draft regulations say certain enterprises applying for water use licences to take or store water, would in the future have to allocate shares of up to 75% to black South Africans in order for such water use licences to be granted. Agri SA said yesterday in a statement that these amendments would have a devastating effect on South Africa’s commercial agricultural sector if adopted in their current form. These regulations were unlikely to achieve the goal of further transformation in the sector. Achieving this goal required creating an environment which was conducive to growth…

SOUTH Africa’s automotive industry surprised on the upside in May as new vehicle sales dramatically increased by 10.1% from a year ago on low base effects, in spite of multiple interest rate hikes, geopolitical perceptions, and load shedding having deleterious effects on operations. The Automotive Business Council (Naamsa) yesterday said that aggregate industry new vehicle sales for May recorded a significant increase of 3 959 vehicles to 43 060 units. This was a gain of 10.1% compared to the aggregate new vehicle sales of 39 101 units recorded for the corresponding month of May 2022. According to Naamsa, the May 2023 new passenger car market and light commercial vehicle market reflected year on year volume increase of 0.1% or 15 units. New passenger cars sales rose to…

STEINHOFF International said yesterday that it has sought approval from a Dutch court for a debt restructuring plan aimed at saving the South African retailer from bankruptcy. The plan was approved this week by all of its creditors, but was rejected by its shareholders. Hurt by financial mismanagement by some of its top executives in 2017 in South Africa’s biggest accounting scandal, it proposed the restructuring plan earlier this year to avoid liquidation. It had said that with its liabilities far exceeding its assets, it would not be able to pay its ¤10.4 billion (R220bn or $11.11bn) external debt when it comes up for maturity by the end of June. The company “filed a request to confirm its Dutch law restructuring plan – with the District Court of Amsterdam,” the…

JUNE 2 IS UPON us and the BRICS’ foreign ministers are meeting in Cape Town to craft the setting of the August summit. The historic nature of the meeting, as taciturn and unsensational as it seems, is underplayed in the media in general, to great folly. As diplomatic meetings go, this is the convocation that delivers the penmanship of the summit’s communique. For all intents and purposes, this is the summit that determines the summit. They may even decide who joins BRICS eventually. But if Russian Presi- dent Vladimir Putin is not in it, then it matters little for the sensationalism that feeds war fuel into the regime change fires. For South Africa, however, this meeting occurs against so much pressure on its national currency, the impugning of the…