Star 2022-04-01

FINANCIALLY-constrained consumers will continue paying higher prices for goods for a little longer as producer prices at the factory gate quickened more than expected in February due to geopolitical tension. Data from Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) yesterday showed that annual headline producer price inflation (PPI) accelerated by 10.5 percent in February from a year before. This PPI reading was above market expectations of a 10 percent rise, and was the highest since the 10.8 percent increase experienced in December. Stats SA said the increase in producer prices was driven by elevated prices of coke, petroleum, chemical, rubber and plastic products which rose by 22.6 percent year-on-year, with petrol and diesel prices up more than 30 percent on an annual basis. This primarily reflected the…

NORTHAM Platinum Holdings yesterday flagged a more than two-thirds increase in half-year profit that was boosted by strong platinum group metal (PGM) prices. Northam, South Africa’s fourth-largest platinum producer, said its profit jumped by 60 percent as firm PGM prices helped prevent a drop in production that was caused by Covid-19 absenteeism and work stoppages. The company released its six months results to end-December yesterday. Northam said two fatalities and Covid-related absences at its Zonder- einde operations led to refined metal output dipping by 0.4 percent, while community unrest in the eastern Bushveld region led to production interruptions at Booysendal. According to the group its headline earnings per share came in at R96.15 ($6.62), compared with R59.99 the previous year. The company said while production decreased to 351…

ANALYSTS have remained divided about the potential impact of the proposed labour migration policy on the economy and job creation in South Africa. This comes as the government in February unveiled South Africa’s National Labour Migration Policy for public comment and engagement. The Employment Services Amendment Bill proposes a framework that will enable the Minister of Labour to regulate the extent to which employers can employ foreign nationals in their establishments. If passed into law, employers would be compelled to implement quotas on the number of documented foreign nationals who can be employed in sectors like agriculture, hospitality and tourism, and construction. Talita Laubscher, a partner at Bowmans’ employment and benefits practice, yesterday said the proposed legislation was not really a new thing. Laubscher, however, said the definition of the…

THE GOVERNMENT will sell millions of barrels of strategic crude oil reserves to the market in a bid to recoup the R6 billion tax revenue it sacrificed to mitigate rising fuel prices. This sale of strategic oil reserves is the first since the government controversially sold 10 million barrels of oil reserves to private companies at heavily discounted prices between December 2015 and January 2016. The government yesterday announced a temporary reduction in the fuel price to help struggling motorists amid another expected record hike in April. This comes as the escalation in global oil prices due to the global economic recovery and the conflict between Russia and Ukraine has placed significant pressure on domestic fuel prices. The latest data from the Central Energy Fund shows South Africa…

SAFARI Investments RSA, the JSE-listed real estate investment trust (Reit) with a portfolio of premium retail assets in semi-urban areas, said yesterday that it had performed in line with guidance for the period up to February 28. The company, which owns seven retail centres and a day hospital in SA, and a mixed use development in Namibia, said yesterday in a pre-close operational update for the year to end-March 31, the strategy to focus on food-anchored convenience shopping centres in mainly semi-urban areas had proven to be a key factor in the defensive nature of its portfolio. “Improvements were evident in all key trading metrics of the portfolio. In particular increased tenant turnover and trading densities are encouraging and bear testament to the resilience and dominance of Safari’s centres.” Tenant…

FOR MANY YEARS, the mining industry has been increasingly aware of the need to comply with environmental, social and governance standards and targets, primarily to address its impact on the environment and communities. This is succinctly articulated in a 2017 academic paper, “Mining industry and sustainable development: time for change”: “Mining is the human activity that has been more disturbing to the environment and is linked to large social impacts and inequalities.” Importantly, “Mining activities are very diverse and may have different ecological footprints. Past mining activities left such imprints in the environment, but two issues, in particular, are of major and worldwide importance: mine tailings and acid mine drainage.” Understanding these realities and the increasing demands from local communities has required that we do things differently. The unavoidable effect…