Star 2023-01-25

SASOL, one of the biggest greenhouse gas (GHG) polluters in the country, has signed three power purchase agreements (PPA) to supply renewable power to its South African operations. In one of the biggest renewable energy transactions by the private sector in this country, Sasol which produces chemicals and petroleum fuels from coal, said that it plans to reduce its GHG emissions from its South African operations by at least 30% by 2030, off a 2017 baseline. Renewable power is a key lever towards its GHG emission reduction, as part of the group’s planned transition towards a more sustainable product portfolio. Sasol South Africa (SSA) and Msenge Emoyeni Wind Farm (Msenge) have signed a long-term PPA to supply 69MW of wind-powered renewable power to the group’s Sasolburg operations. This deal was…

Share prices in ArcelorMittal South Africa (Amsa) slid as much as nearly 22% yesterday, after it flagged that for the year ended December 31, 2022 its earnings were expected to fall as much as 63% due to steel prices dropping. The shares dropped to an intra-day low of R3.72, having closed the previous day at R4.75. By 3.36pm the share had recovered somewhat to trade at R4.19 on the JSE. They have declined by 23.39% in the past six months. In its trading statement and business update released yesterday, the steel-making group said the earnings per share declined from R5.94 profit per share for the comparative period to a profit within a range of R2.20 and R2.50 per share for the period, representing a decrease of between 58% and 63%.…

Eskom fails to give Parliament concrete forecast of when it will end the power cuts ESKOM has failed to give Parliament a concrete forecast of when it will be able to end load shedding completely. The struggling power utility appeared before the standing committee on public accounts (Scopa) yesterday to provide an update on the progress made so far to implementing the 23 recommendations that Parliament made following an oversight visit to Eskom early last year. After a detailed presentation by outgoing Eskom CEO André de Ruyter, Scopa chairman Mkhuleko Hlengwa remained dissatisfied that the utility’s recovery plan still fell short of pronouncing the end of crippling power cuts. Hlengwa said that if Eskom did not have tangible targets and milestones to end load shedding, this could possibly place the…

SOUTH Africa’s growth could face a period of stagnation in the second half of this year as economic activity is expected to slow down on global and domestic headwinds, in spite of the business cycle rebounding in November, 2022. The composite leading business cycle indicator, a measure of early signals of turning points in business cycles rose slightly by 0.1% in November, rebounding from a 0.9% decline in October. Data from the SA Reserve Bank showed that four of the 10 available component time series increased, outweighing decreases in five components, while one component remained unchanged. The largest positive contributors to the November reading were an acceleration in the six-months smoothed growth rate in the number of new passenger vehicles sold, and an increase in the volume of orders in…

THE SEVERE pressures put on businesses and the economy by the country’s energy crisis continue to worsen. The latest company having to deal with the fallout from Eskom’s load shedding is Stratford Farms in Mooi River, KwaZulu-Natal. The dairy farm was forced to dispose of thousands of litres of unpasteurised milk earlier this week after load shedding caused cooling systems and other mechanisms to fail. Ross Stratford, a director of the farm, warned that the cost of milk could skyrocket in the near future if load shedding persisted. Stratford, speaking about the 11 000 litres of milk that the farm was forced to dispose of on Sunday, said, “Due to the poor infrastructure in the municipalities, it is not equipped to handle the effects of load shedding. While our equipment…

SASOL’S coal export sales fell 25% in the six months to December 31, due to operational challenges at Transnet Freight Rail and the diversion of coal to the Secunda Operations (SO), the group said yesterday in a sales and production update. However, it said group external sales revenue was only 2% lower, driven by lower sales volumes. First-half overall sales volumes were 5% lower, largely due to lower Eurasia volumes offset by higher sales in America. The average basket price rose 3%, but decreased by 14% compared to the first quarter of the 2023 year due to the weaker economic environment. The share price nudged up 4.7% to R316.91 yesterday afternoon. In Sasol’s mining operations, productivity fell in December, 2022 due to the lack of spare parts and safety stoppages.…