please send me an e-mail for full-text articles - saflog

More documents

Recommendations

Info

INDUSTRIAL MANUFACTURING EXPECTED TO CONTRACT FURTHER (Business Da, 29/04/2013) A key manufacturing survey will command the most attention from local markets this week, after news of a surprise fall in industrial output during February. The Kagiso purchasing manager s’ index (PMI), seen as a reliable health gauge for the sector, is likely to have slipped further below the 50 level — which divides expansion and contraction — this month. The index is due out on Thursday. The PMI dropped unexpectedly by 4.3 points to 49.3 last month, pressured by significant falls in both new sales orders and business activity. That means manufacturing is likely to have contracted again last month, after falling by 2.9% in February compared with the same month the previous year. "Clearly the manufacturing numbers are not a good story with which to pump up our growth expectations for the economy," Meganomics economist Colen Garrow says. Slowing growth in Asia and the recession in Europe have curbed demand for locally manufactured exports and the trend is likely to continue this year, given the fragility of the global economy. FUEL TOTAL SA IN R140M EXPANSION PROJECT (South Africa Info, 26/04/2013) Energy firm Total South Africa will invest R140-million over two years to upgrade its blending plant and expand the capacity of its fuel depot at Durban's Island View Terminal facility, it announced on Wednesday. The investment follows the signing of a 15-year lease with Transnet National Port Authority. "We see this as a major vote of confidence in South Africa, as well as in other countries in southern Africa, as some of the additional lubricants we will be blending will be exported to Southern African Development Community countries, which we see as a growth market for our lubricants," Total South Africa's CEO, Christian des Closieres, said in a statement. Work on the plants is expected to be complete by the end of 2014. "Our roots in South Africa go back to the mid-1950s and we are committed to growing our business in South Africa and southern Africa through sustainably growing our infrastructure and distribution channels in the fuels and lubricants markets," said Des Closieres. BP UPGRADES DURBAN REFINERY TO MEET CLEAN-FUEL SPECS (Mail & Guardian Online, 26/04/2013) Sapref is a 50% joint venture with Shell and it is expected that Shell will match BP's investment. As part of a larger R5- billion investment in BP's refinery, terminal and retail infrastructure, Sapref is being upgraded to meet clean-fuel specifications that government wants implemented by 2017. "The ability for us to be able to produce more of the region's clean fuels needs locally will have a ... positive impact on BP's ability to contribute towards better security of supply for the region," said Iain Conn, BP's group managing director and chief executive of refining and marketing. A remuneration mechanism, intended to help oil companies recoup the cost of complying with the new regulations, is set to be published by the department of energy by September this year. Conn said BP expected the cost-recovery mechanism to be fair, to incentivise further compliance by the rest of the industry; simple, to encourage innovation; and predictable, in order to encourage further investment in the region. RELIEF FOR MOTORISTS (Fin24, 26/04/2013) The price for a litre of petrol will go down by 73c a litre and diesel by 55c a litre next Wednesday, the Department of Energy announced on Friday. This is more than what economists expected and mainly due to a drop in world oil prices and a strengthening in the rand dollar exchange rate. They expected a cut of at least 64c a litre. It is the first petrol price drop after three consecutive increases totalling R1.34 for a litre of 95 unleaded in Gauteng. In January this year, the price decreased by 15c a litre to R11.86, but has since risen to R13.20/l. Motorists is Gauteng will now pay R12.47, while those at the coast will fork out R12.24 for a litre of petrol. A litre of diesel will now cost R11.41. The department said in a statement on Friday that the average international product prices of petrol‚ diesel and illuminating paraffin all decreased during the period under review. The average rand/dollar exchange rate strengthened when compared with the previous period. The average rand/dollar exchange rate for the period March 27 to April 25 was R9.1598/$ compared with R9.1932/$ for the March 1 to March 26 period and R8.9067 during the February period. Transnet Freight Rail News Briefs Page 2 of 10
COAL WORLD RECOGNISING UNDERGROUND COAL GASIFICATION AS VIABLE – CLEAN COAL ANALYST (Mining Weekly, 26/04/2013) Underground coal gasification (UCG) is now being recognised globally as a viable and economic method of accessing deep, otherwise unrecoverable coal reserves, both on- and offshore, says International Energy Agency Clean Coal Centre senior analyst John Kessels.UCG, a process of converting coal into gas while it is still underground, has been under investigation by Eskom at Majuba for the last six years and is the process which African Carbon Energy (Africary) is taking steps to implement at a proposed UCG-to-electricity project at Theunissen in the Free State. Also known in Canada as in situ coal gasification, the process makes use of deep, inaccessible coal that would otherwise remain unused in the ground, the Fossil Fuel Foundation (FFF) workshop heard in Johannesburg this week. Kessels, who delivered the keynote address at the FFF workshop, reports that the development of UCG has advanced as a consequence of trials in the last few years in the US, Australia, South Africa, Canada and Europe. South Africa’s Department of Energy chief director for hydrocarbons policy, Muzi Mkhize, who also addressed the FFF workshop, says that the department is looking forward to having a gas infrastructure development framework in the current financial year. Mkhize says that the department is also developing an integrated energy plan that will incorporate the Integrated Resource Plan and the liquid fuels infrastructure roadmap. COAL OUTPUT HIT BY FLOODS, DERAILMENT (Fin24, 29/04/2013) Junior coal mining company Coal of Africa (CoAL) reported a 21% drop in third-quarter run of mine coal output as heavy rains and a derailment on a railway line hit operations. The company said run of mine coal production in the quarter to end-March fell to 911,563 tonnes, from 1.15 million tonnes in the previous quarter. Heavy rainfall halted operations at its Vele Colliery in South Africa for three weeks, weighing on production, the company said. CoAL also declared force majeure on coal shipments in February after a derailment on a rail corridor linking its collieries in South Africa with a port in Mozambique. The company expects to restart South African exports in May. CoAL said export sales from the Matola Terminal in Mozambique fell by 34% to 271,069 tonnes from the second quarter. GRAIN SA MAIZE ADVANCES FOR SECOND DAY (Business Report, 26/04/2013) South African corn futures gained for a second day after the rand weakened for the first time in four days against the dollar, raising the cost of imported grains relative to locally produced varieties. White corn for delivery in July, the most active contract, increased 1.4 percent to 2,134 rand ($234) a metric ton by the noon close on the South African Futures Exchange in Johannesburg. The yellow variety gained 1.2 percent to 2,115 rand a ton. The rand slumped after South Africa’s central bank said increased borrowing and accelerating inflation risk raising borrowing costs. The rand was the worst performer against the dollar today among the 16 major currencies tracked by Bloomberg, losing 0.4 percent to 9.1344 by noon. Corn climbed for a second day on the Chicago Board of Trade yesterday. “The increase in South African corn prices was bolstered by the rand weakened this morning,” Lindy van Blommestein, a trader at Johannesburg-based Farmwise Grains (Pty) Ltd., said by phone. CHROME & MANGANESE MERAFE’S FERROCHROME PRODUCTION RISES DESPITE POWER BUYBACK (Business Day, 26/04/2013) Merafe Resources’ ferrochrome production rose 3% during the first quarter of 2013 compared with a year earlier, despite a bigger production impact this year from its participation in Eskom’s buyback programme. Merafe’s participation in Eskom’s buyback initiative began during the March quarter and will continue until May 31. Merafe’s wholly owned Merafe Ferrochrome & Mining has a 20.5% interest in the Xstrata-Merafe Chrome Venture, in which Xstrata owns the other 79.5%. Merafe and Xstrata South Africa formed the venture in July 2004 when they pooled their chrome operations to create the largest ferrochrome producer in the world. Transnet Freight Rail News Briefs Page 3 of 10
Page 1: COMMODITY NEWSBRIEFS: 29 APRIL 2013
Page 5 and 6: GENERAL COMMODITIES SLUMP SENDS OUT
Page 7 and 8: Transnet Freight Rail News Briefs P
Page 9 and 10: Diesel 0.05% (c/l) 1027.69 1026.69

please send me an e-mail for full-text articles - saflog

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?