Gauteng Business 2017-18 edition

OVERVIEW
of Johannesburg) and Chemical
Services, which presides over
20 separate companies (including
Senmin, the group’s mining
chemicals company).
Incentives
The Manufacturing and
Competitiveness Enhancement
Programme (MCEP) of the national
Department of Trade and
Industry (dti) announced in 2017
that it had disbursed a total of
1 552 grants to the value of R5.8-
billion which had resulted in
230 000 jobs being “sustained”.
Plastics, pharmaceuticals and
chemicals received 31% of the
money, metal fabrication, capital
and real transport equipment
28% and agri-processing 21%.
Italian forged wheel manufacturer
Lucchini received tax and
training allowances from the dti
which helped it decide to invest
R200-million in a new forged
wheel-making facility. Blank
railway wheels imported from
Italy will be completed at the
Germiston plant. Lucchini previously
sold its wheels in South
Africa through DCD Ringrollers,
itself a maker of forged steel tyre
products. Lucchini has committed
to increasing the local
content in the manufacturing
process.
The Provincial Government
of Gauteng has specific plans to
bolster manufacturing capacity
in the province’s western areas.
Some of the projects include:
• a bicycle manufacturing
or assembling factory in
Mohlakeng
• continuing to buy busses for the province’s BRT system from the
Busmark plant in Randfontein which manufactures and assembles
buses. In 2016 a dual fuel bus was launched, with the bodies of the
busses designed and built in Randfontein.
• establishment of agri-parks: Westonaria hydroponic agri-park;
Merafong Flora agri-park (tomatoes, cucumbers and green peppers);
investment in Isigayo Milling Plant in Randfontein
• revitalisation of industrial parks at Khutsong, Mohlakeng and
Chamdor.
The plan prioritises mining and mineral beneficiation, capital equipment
and machinery, agriculture and agri-processing, tourism, retail
and economic development in townships.
Pharmaceuticals
South Africa’s pharmaceutical sector is worth approximately R20-
billion annually. Although there are more than 200 pharmaceutical
firms in the country, large companies tend to dominate the field,
with Aspen (34%) and Adcock Ingram (25%) the two key players, followed
by Sanofi, Pharmaplan and Cipla Medpro. A number of large
pharmaceutical firms have made significant investments in South
Africa. Adcock Ingram, for instance, has invested heavily in its South
African operation.
The private sector accounts for 80% of pharmaceutical industry
sales by value and 20% by volume, while this ratio is reversed in
the case of the public sector. The public sector dispenses comparatively
cheap pharmaceutical products to its users in public hospitals
and healthcare centres within South Africa, whereas pharmaceutical
products produced by the private sector in South Africa serve a
niche market.
Among the other big international brands active in Gauteng are
Merck, which has a 55 000m² plant at Modderfontein, and Pfizer
SA, which runs a laboratory in Sandton amongst its facilities in
South Africa.
CONTACT INFO
Aluminium Federation of South Africa: www.afsa.org.za
Centre for Advanced Manufacturing: www.cfam.co.za
Chemical and Allied Industries’ Association: www.caia.co.za
Gauteng Department of Economic Development:
www.ecodev.gpg.gov.za
Manufacturing Circle: www. manufacturingcircle.co.za
National Department of Trade and Industry: www.thedti.gov.za
49 GAUTENG BUSINESS 2017/18