CAPE TOWN (Reuters) – South Africa’s government has slowed its nuclear power expansion plans, according to a draft energy paper, although state energy utility Eskom said the country should stick to its original plan of bringing a new plant online by 2025.

South Africa has the continent’s only nuclear power station and is seeking to expand its nuclear, wind, solar and coal power capacity in the coming decades as electricity output barely meets demand.

A draft blueprint of the government’s Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) said it now aimed to increase nuclear power output by just 1,359 megawatts (MW) by 2037, compared with a previous target of adding 9,600 MW of new nuclear power by 2030.

Under the new IRP, nuclear power output would rise more rapidly by 20,385 MW between 2037 and 2050.

The government cited additional generation capacity, lower demand forecasts and changes in technology costs among the reasons for scaling-back.

Eskom , which will procure, own and operate new nuclear plants, said it will still request proposals this year from companies looking to build plants given long lead times of around a decade when building reactors.

Energy analysts have said the 9,600 MW plan was ambitious on timescale and unnecessary, while opponents of President Jacob Zuma raised concerns about a lack of transparency in deals which could cost in the region of $80 billion.

Several meetings between Zuma and Russian President Vladimir Putin over the last two years led to speculation that Russian state-run nuclear firm Rosatom had secured the deal before the launch of the public tender. South Africa’s government and Rosatom denied this.

The new electricity-focused IRP includes plans to add a further 37,400 MW of wind and 17,600 MW of solar power by 2050.

“If I was an investor or project developer in the nuclear space, I would not pick up a pen before the IRP is finalised next year to submit any request for proposals, specifically considering the dark cloud hanging over the nuclear programme with alleged corrupt relationships,” said Johan Muller, programme manager for energy and environment at Frost & Sullivan consultancy.

The previous head of Eskom, Brian Molefe resigned after being implicated in a report by the anti-graft watchdog on allegations of influence peddling that has tarnished state-owned companies as well as Zuma himself.

The government’s nuclear programme also faces public opposition. South African Faith Communities Environment Institute (SAFCEI) and Earthlife Africa Johannesburg are in court next month in a bid to overturn the nuclear build programme.

($1 = 14.0847 rand)

(Reporting by Wendell Roelf; Writing by Joe Brock; Editing by Ed Stoddard and Alexandra Hudson)

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By Alexis Akwagyiram and Chijioke Ohuocha

LAGOS (Reuters) – Nigeria’s recession deepened in the third quarter and oil production fell, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Monday, as a dollar shortage kept Africa’s biggest economy in a stranglehold.

Gross domestic product contracted by 2.24 percent year-on-year, the NBS said. That was even worse than the 2.06 decline in the second quarter, when Nigeria fell into recession for the first time in 25 years.

The data came on the eve of an interest rate decision, with analysts expecting the central bank to hold benchmark rates at 14 percent. Inflation hit 18.3 percent in October, the highest in more than 11 years. [nL8N1DF1YL]

Prices have been pushed up by the dollar scarcity in a country dependent on imports, which has been exacerbated by currency restrictions imposed by the central bank last year in an effort to defend the naira. Oil sales are the OPEC member’s main source of dollars to fund imports.

“The ramp up in fiscal spending has been slower than anticipated, and the policy response in general remains weak,” said Cobus de Hart, economist at NKC Economists.

The NBS said oil production fell to 1.63 million barrels per day, down from 1.69 million in the second quarter.

“We were expecting a more shallow contraction,” Standard Chartered Africa chief economist Razia Khan said. “Much of it seems to have been driven by the outsized contraction in the oil sector once again, with much lower levels of oil production than we had expected.”

She said FX reforms were needed to “restore positive momentum” to Nigeria’s economy.

FARM GROWTH

NBS said the non-oil part of the economy grew by 0.03 percent in the third quarter, compared with negative growth in the first two, which was “largely driven” by 4.54 percent growth in the farming sector.

The president’s special adviser on the economy, Adeyemi Dipeolu, said the growth in agriculture, which the government wants to boost to reduce its reliance on oil sales, was a sign of “green shoots of economic recovery”.

A statement issued by the vice president’s office said the figures pointed to the success of President Muhammadu Buhari’s economic policies, despite the recession. It blamed the latter on a series of attacks by militants on oil and gas facilities in the southern Niger Delta since January.

Attacks have ramped up in the last few weeks following a lull that lasted a few months while militants and community leaders, who want a greater share of Nigeria’s energy wealth to go to the region, held talks with the government. Crude oil sales account for two-thirds of government revenue.

In October, the NBS said the economy was likely to shrink 1.3 percent in 2016, a sharp downward revision of its estimates at the beginning of the year, prompted by dramatic falls in the currency. The International Monetary Fund has predicted a contraction of 1.8 percent this year.

A senior Moody’s analyst told Reuters that Nigeria’s economy could expand by 2.5 percent next year if it could produce 2.2 million barrels of oil per day – the level at which the government made its budget calculations.

(Additional reporting by Oludare Mayowa; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)

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JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South Africa’s Pioneer Food, Astral Foods and Rhodes Food expect the severe drought and weak economic growth to weigh on their businesses in the 2017 financial year, the companies said on Monday after reporting results.

An El Nino weather pattern, which ended in May, triggered drought conditions across the southern African region that hit the staple, maize, and other crops and dented economic growth.

Africa’s most industrialised country is only expected to expand by 0.5 percent this year, down from a target of 0.9 percent the Treasury set in February.

Shares in Pioneer Food rose 1.73 percent to 164.78 rand, while Rhodes Food increased 1.82 percent to 28 rand by 0812 GMT.

Poultry producer Astral, which is weighing job cuts, fell 0.66 percent to 120.50 rand.

“The weakened state of consumer spending is unlikely to improve due to poor economic growth and higher unemployment which will continue to constrain an increase in the per capita consumption of poultry,” Astral said in a statement.

“High maize and feed prices will continue for at least the first half of 2017 on the back of the severe drought.”

Pioneer, which makes foods such as maize meal, pasta and juices, said that high maize prices and a reduced raisin crop “will impact performance in the first half of the new financial year.”

Rhodes, which reported a 50 percent rise in normalised diluted headline earnings per share to 126.5 cents for the year ended September, said the drought could hurt its production costs and volumes in the year ahead “if there is no improvement in climatic conditions.”

“A lot of them have done reasonably well within the context and the environment in which they find themselves in, however we need a better crop coming in this year for these guys to survive and for them to remain relatively competitive,” said Global Trader equities analyst Paul Chakaduka.

“The environment remains very uncertain for these food producers.”

The government expects the 2016 maize harvest to be 28 percent lower at 7.16 million tonnes, with an improved harvest in 2017 when rainfall is expected to increase.

Pioneer Food Group said adjusted operating profit increased by 6 percent to 2.3 billion rand ($159 million), while Rhodes Food gross profit increased by 43.9 percent to 1.2 billion rand.

Astral reported a 50.1 percent decline in operating profit to 549 million rand.

(Reporting by Nqobile Dludla; Editing by Joe Brock and Louise Heavens)

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By TJ Strydom

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South Africa’s Dis-Chem plans to double in size over the next five years its chief executive said on Friday, as the drug store chain made its debut on the Johannesburg bourse.

Founded in 1978 by CEO Ivan Saltzman and his wife Lynette, Dis-Chem has become a major retailer of health products, with annual sales of more than 15 billion rand ($1 billion).

The company braved uncertain equity markets in South Africa’s second largest listing this year after food services group Bidcorp, which made its debut in May at a valuation of around 90 billion rand.

In addition to global economic uncertainties, investors are concerned about unemployment of more than 25 percent and weak growth in Africa’s most industrialised country.

Dis-Chem’s shares opened at 23.26 rand, valuing it at around 20 billion rand $1.37 billion), as the firm looks to take on larger retail rival Clicks Group and retailers Shoprite and Pick n Pay, which also sell medicines.

The firm has 106 stores in South Africa and plans to expand this to more than 200, Saltzman told Reuters. It is still much smaller than Clicks which operates more than 700 outlets and has annual sales of about 23 billion rand.

“We will continue on the same trajectory… we’ve doubled since 2010 and we will double again in the next 5 years,” Saltzman said after shares representing 27.5 percent of the Dis-Chem began trading. They had fallen by 9.9 percent from their opening price to 20.95 rand by 1153 GMT.

The Saltzmans, both qualified pharmacists, started their first chemist south of Johannesburg in 1978. They took six years before opening a second store in the city and in 2004 started expanding to the rest of South Africa.

Their son Saul is also an executive at the firm and the family will continue to control it with a 53 percent stake.

MARGIN UPLIFT

Although consumers have cut back on some discretionary purchases such as clothing, hurting other retailers’ profits, Saltzman said drugs and cosmetics have been less affected by South Africa’s economic situation.

“The pharmacy space is resilient and we have very strong growth and brand in that space,” Saltzman said.

Around a third of Dis-Chem’s stores are less than three years old and could boost revenue and profit as they become more established, Sasfin Wealth equity analyst Alec Abraham said.

“Dis-Chem will see a margin uplift from these stores as they mature and reach optimal profitability,” he said. “They’ve got some good earnings momentum.”

Goldman Sachs, Investec Bank, and Standard Bank are the joint global coordinators and joint bookrunners alongside Bank of America Merrill Lynch on the listing.

($1 = 14.4772 rand)

(Editing by James Machariaa and Alexander Smith)

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