Star 2024-01-30

BY CONVERTING 1 000 tons of food waste into animal feed over the past six months, the Shoprite Group said it was providing enough fodder for up to 3 000 cattle daily. It said that was part of its commitment to environmental sustainability and advancing the circular economy. The retailer was repurposing food products, returned from Shoprite and Checkers supermarkets to its distribution centres in Brackenfell, Western Cape, and in Centurion, Gauteng, that were no longer fit for human consumption, thereby preventing waste from ending up in landfills. Dried goods such as rice, pasta, maize pro- ducts, cereal products, flour, chips, snacks and seeds supplement hominy chop, a byproduct of maize milling, in the group’s animal feed formula. To reduce food waste, which has significant environmental, social…

THE BUSINESS sector in South Africa is extremely concerned at the lack of investment in the mining industry due to unclear policy direction, delayed exploration licence approvals, the energy crisis, and logistics challenges. Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA) yesterday warned that the mining sector was facing unprecedented challenges, especially due to the energy insecurity and more than a decade of regulatory chaos. BLSA CEO Busi Mavuso said the rapid deterioration of Transnet’s ability to move output across the country and through the ports, meant a considerable decline in earnings. Mavuso said there was a lack of expansion investment by South African miners, but even more con- cerning was the near absence of exploration spending. She said this meant the industry was in a terminal state, with only existing mines being…

ANGLO American yesterday announced the launch of a research and development project in collaboration with GEM, one of China’s largest battery and battery material recyclers. The aim is to explore new and more efficient technologies for the use of existing and alternative raw materials to be used in batteries for electric vehicles (EVs). Anglo American Base Metal executive head Paul Ward said: “Our diversified portfolio includes a range of products critical to the long-term decarbonisation of transport – a sector estimated to account for over 15% of global emissions. We are collaborating with leaders in the sector to explore new technologies that build on the physical qualities of our portfolio of products to help tackle some of the key challenges facing the industry and contribute to the sustainable scale-up of…

Headline earnings for year to December 2023 expected lower by at least 166% EARNINGS in ArcelorMittal South Africa (Amsa), which is battling a slowdown in the local economy and national infrastructure and logistics shortfalls, are expected to plunge for the full year to December, tipping the company from profit-making into a loss. Business Report reported last week that big South African steel manufacturers, including Amsa, were struggling to keep the lights on. Amsa yesterday reported that headline earnings for the year to December 2023 were expected to plunge by at least 166% from R2.34 headline profit per share in the previous contrasting period to a loss per share of between R1.55 and R1.85 per share. “Included within the above range of the earnings per share guidance, is the recognition of…

SOUTH African investors are expressing caution regarding the country’s investment outlook for the year, given the potential for a coalition government arising from the upcoming general election. Anchor Capital, which has R225 billion in assets under management, yesterday said South Africa was “going to be different” post the May election. The asset manager has drafted four possible scenarios that, the first being the ruling ANC winning the election with a 50% to 55% majority. In this scenario, Anchor said the ANC would continue governing with a lot of challenges continuing to persist, and things getting worse after 2026 when the sitting President ends his term as the party president. In the second scenario the ANC achieves 45% to 49% of the vote, and gets into a coalition with one…

A HONG KONG court issued a winding-up order for Chinese real estate giant Evergrande yesterday, as the embattled firm teeters on the brink of bankruptcy. The firm’s astronomical debt has become emblematic of a years-long crisis in China’s property market,with knock-on effects across the world’s second-largest economy. What do Evergrande’s creditors want? Evergrande was once China’s biggest real estate firm, a giant in a sector that ballooned as property became the foundation of a burgeoning middle class’s growing wealth. But it accrued massive loans at a time when credit flowed freely, and when Beijing, in 2020, turned off the taps in a bid to rein in the sector, it was left owing more than $300 billion. Unable to repay interest on its loans, it formally defaulted in December 2021.…