South African Business 2019 edition

OVERVIEW
energy prices. Silicon Smelters, which has plants in
Mpumalanga and Limpopo, has asked for a two-year
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 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 steel. Evraz Highveld went into business
rescue in 2015. The contract is for two years with
an option to renew for another year. Alternately,
ArcelorMittal may buy the mill after the two years.
Elsewhere in Mpumalanga, the presence of
Ferrometals means that Mpumalanga is still an important
place for metals and machinery manufacturing,
but the turbulence in the steel sector has reminded
everyone of the need to diversify. Samancor Chrome
(which runs Ferrometals) is the second-largest ferrochrome
producer in the world with three plants.
Middelburg-based Columbus Stainless is a major
supplier of stainless-steel products to the domestic
and international market. The Manganese Metal
Company in Nelspruit is the largest producer of
pure electrolytic manganese metal in the world.
Iron production at Saldanha in the Western Cape
includes hot-rolled coil produced by ArcelorMittal
and cold-rolled and galvanised steel by DSP, a
joint venture between South Africa’s Industrial
Development Corporation (IDC) and a Belgian
company, Duferco.
VARIETY AND QUALITY
Tirisano Holdings manufactures between 200
and 1 700 pairs of shoes per day at its facility
in Phuthaditjhaba in the Free State.
The factory produces formal shoes and
school shoes, sneakers and pumps. The pumps
are adorned with artistic designs, including
African print designs.
Some testimonials attest to the professionalism
of Tirisano.
“Since our involvement with Tirisano Shoe
Company, they have been professional, dependable
and competitively priced with good aftersales
support. Tirisano supplies shoes to many
of our beneficiary schools.”
– Rivers Foundation
“We have had various engagements with
Tirisano (Pty) Ltd with regard to conducting
assessments and due care with a view of considering
development support to them in the
future. To this end we had a site inspection at
their facilities in Qwaqwa. The school shoes were
manufactured on time, with the requisite quality.
Tirisano’s conduct was always professional.”
– National Development Agency
ONLINE RESOURCES
Aluminium Federation of South Africa:
www.afsa.org.za
Centre for Advanced Manufacturing:
www.cfam.co.za
Manufacturing Circle:
www. manufacturingcircle.co.za
Steel and Engineering Industries Federation
of Southern Africa: www.seifsa.co.za
South African Textile Federation:
www.texfed.co.za
SOUTH AFRICAN BUSINESS 2019
110