Mpumalanga Business 2017-18 edition

OVERVIEW
Manufacturing
A Russian truck maker is to establish a plant in Mpumalanga.
SECTOR INSIGHT
Steel production has begun
again at Evraz Highveld.
• A macadamia factory has
more than doubled its
floorspace.
Manufacturing in Mpumalanga received a boost with the
news that Minsk Tractor Works is to establish an assembly
plant in the province. The Provincial Government of
Mpumalanga has signed various memoranda of understanding
with foreign governments and provinces.
Russia, Belarus, China and Oman are some of the countries with
which Mpumalanga is engaged. In 2016, the Mpumalanga Economic
Growth Agency (MEGA) hosted the People’s Republic of China Business
Forum which was attended by 19 large Chinese companies.
A key objective of the provincial government’s Mpumalanga
Economic Growth and Development Path (MEGDP) is to expand
the industrial base of the provincial economy. To do this, policymakers
are focusing on beneficiation, agri-processing and valuechain
development.
The two obvious sectors in which these goals can be achieved
are within two of Mpumalanga’s most important sectors, mining and
agriculture. Two industrial technology parks are to be developed in
support of the policy, Agriculture and Forestry, and Petrochemicals.
Plans for a park focussing on mining
and metals have been put on
hold due to uncertainty in the
steel industry.
Silicon Smelters, which has
plants in Mpumalanga and
Limpopo, has asked for a twoyear
negotiated price agreement
(NPA) on electricity, which would
allow it to resume production.
The National Energy Regulator
of South Africa (Nersa) has the
power to grant such exemptions
where the industry is regarded
as strategic.
The National Department of
Trade and Industry has moved
to try to protect the local steel
industry by regulating the use in
the construction sector of locally
produced and manufactured
steel and steel products.
The structural mill of Evraz
Highveld Steel in Witbank was
officially relaunched in June
2017 after ArcelorMittal South
Africa signed a contract to supply
blooms and slabs for the mill
to make into heavy structural
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