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Glencore says South African coal strike violence worsens

7 April 2016 Comments (0) Africa, Business, Latest Updates from Reuters

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – Glencore has laid arson charges against a South African mining union as a three-week coal strike turns increasingly violent, the mining company said on Thursday.

Workers from the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) torched two trucks and offices at the Wonderfontein Mine on Wednesday night, taking the petrol bomb incidents to around 10 since the strike started, Glencore said.

Around 60 striking workers accused of intimidating other employees and damaging nearby farms have been arrested.

AMCU and the police were not available to comment.

Wonderfontein is a joint venture between Glencore and Shanduka Group, which was founded by Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa. The mine produces 3.6 million tonnes annually.

Glencore said it was engaging with AMCU leadership over a wage dispute.

 

(Reporting by Zandi Shabalala; Editing by Joe Brock)

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South Africa’s February manufacturing output up 1.9% y/y

7 April 2016 Comments (0) Africa, Business, Latest Updates from Reuters

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – Manufacturing output grew by 1.9 percent year-on-year in February after contracting by a revised 2.6 percent in January, Statistics South Africa said on Thursday.

On a month-on-month basis, factory production was up 1.3 percent, but was down 0.3 percent in the three months to February compared with the previous three months.

A Reuters poll of economists had expected the headline figure to show manufacturing shrinking by 2.1 percent.

 

(Reporting by Mfuneko Toyana; Editing by James Macharia)

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South Africa’s Eskom says Majuba rail line to be completed in 2017

7 April 2016 Comments (0) Africa, Business, Latest Updates from Reuters

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South African electricity utility Eskom said on Thursday that construction of a railway line linking its Majuba power plant with the main coal line would be completed at the end of 2017.

The 68-kilometre corridor is the first large green field freight rail infrastructure project to be carried out in South Africa since 1986, Eskom said.

 

 

(Reporting by Tiisetso Motsoeneng; editing by Jason Neely)

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Angola to open loan talks with IMF as oil price bites

6 April 2016 Comments (0) Africa, Latest Updates from Reuters, Politics

LUANDA (Reuters) – Angola will begin loan negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) this month as lower oil prices hammer the finances of Africa’s second-largest crude exporter, the Finance Ministry said on Wednesday.

Angola’s economy has grown rapidly since a 27-year civil war ended in 2002, peaking at 12 percent three years ago, but a sharp drop in oil prices has sapped dollar inflows, dented the kwanza and prompted heavy government borrowing.

Oil output represents 40 percent of gross domestic product and more than 95 percent of foreign exchange revenue. Brent crude traded below $39 a barrel on Wednesday, down more than 30 percent compared with a year ago. [O/R]

“The government of Angola is aware that the high dependence of the oil sector represents vulnerability for the public finances and the economy in an extensive way,” the Finance Ministry said in a statement.

“The government requested the support of the IMF for a supplementary programme … taking account of the decline in the price of petroleum.”

Finance Minister Armando Manuel told Reuters in March that Angola had no plans to approach the IMF for loans.

Angola will work with the IMF to design reforms aimed at improving fiscal discipline, simplifying the tax system and increasing transparency in public finances and the banking sector, as part of loan talks, the ministry statement said.

It added that the focus of its economic diversification efforts will be growing the agriculture, fisheries and mining sectors.

The ministry said the government was also implementing an ambitious programme of fuel subsidy reforms to shore up the country’s finances.

 

(Reporting by Herculano Coroado; Writing by Joe Brock; Editing by Alison Williams)

 

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Ivory Coast mid-crop cocoa harvest hit by poor weather

6 April 2016 Comments (0) Africa, Business, Latest Updates from Reuters

ABIDJAN (Reuters) – Purchases of cocoa in Ivory Coast’s mid-crop season that starts in April have ground to a halt because of a lack of rain and harsh winds that have also hit quality, farmers and buyers said.

Forecasts for the April-October mid crop say it could drop to between 380,000 and 390,000 tonnes, a 24 percent fall from 502,000 tonnes in the same harvest last year, according to several trading houses and cocoa producers.

The West African country is the world’s biggest producer of cocoa, with output of around 1.8 million tonnes per year, of which the mid-crop represents about 30 percent. Dry weather has already reduced forecasts for the 2015-2016 season to around 1.6 million.

Many exporters have reduced or stopped buying altogether as a lack of rain has made beans smaller and twice as acidic as usual.

“The quality is … at a level where we would prefer not to buy at the moment,” said the director of an exports company in Abidjan, who declined to be identified. “We will see in June if that changes.”

Only seven of more than 100 accredited operators have bought beans and opened their factories so far. About 80 percent of exporting companies have stopped buying, exporters said.

On Monday exporters bought 2,800 tonnes of cocoa in the ports of Abidjan and San Pedro, down significantly from the normal haul of 20,000 tonnes.

While smaller beans may be bought by local grinders instead of exported, they produce more acidity and less butter than larger ones, forcing grinders to purchase more for the same result. Acidity levels, or FFA, stood at 3.5 percent against a usual level of 1.75 percent, exporters said.

As a result, grinders have largely foregone purchases so far this mid-crop season, opting to wait for any improvements in the crop that may appear toward the end of the harvest.

Recent rain in the main cocoa-growing regions was too late to affect the development of pods on the trees, farmers said.

“We are happy with the rain’s return, but it’s too late for the production,” said Salomon Lohami, who owns a seven-acre cocoa plantation in Kahin. “If it was January or February, that could change the harvest, but not at this point.”

 

(By Ange Aboa. Writing by Makini Brice; Editing by Matthew Mpoke Bigg and David Holmes)

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South Africa’s rand seen struggling due to local politics, risk aversion

6 April 2016 Comments (0) Africa, Business, Latest Updates from Reuters

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South Africa’s rand edged up against the dollar on Wednesday but was still off recent four-month highs, with local political uncertainty as well as overall low risk appetite seen capping any significant gains.

Stocks opened slightly firmer, with the JSE securities exchange’s Top-40 index up 0.5 percent from Tuesday’s close.

At 0714 GMT the rand traded at 15.0350 to the greenback, gaining 0.4 percent from its previous close in New York.

The rand has however lost significant ground since rallying to 14.6050/dollar last week as investors cheered a court ruling that President Jacob Zuma unconstitutionally ignored a directive to pay for some of the state-funded upgrades to his home.

Zuma, who has been dogged by controversy since becoming president in 2009, survived an impeachment motion by the opposition on Tuesday thanks to the ruling African National Congress’s majority in parliament.

Investor sentiment has been shaky since Zuma inexplicably fired the former finance minister in December, raising fears that Pretoria might veer away from prudent fiscal policies.

“The rand is back above 15.00, but not only because of domestic events,” Standard Bank said in a note, pointing to a general sell-off in emerging market currencies.

“We still believe that the currency will struggle to maintain a foothold below 15.00 into mid-year.”

In fixed income, the yield on debt due in 2026 eased 2 basis points to 9.24 percent in early trade.

 

(Reporting by Stella Mapenzauswa; Editing by Tom Heneghan)

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Saudi Arabia to sign $21.5 bin energy, development deals with Egypt

5 April 2016 Comments (0) Business, Latest Updates from Reuters, Middle East

CAIRO (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia is expected to sign a $20 billion deal to finance Egypt’s petroleum needs for the next five years and a $1.5 billion deal to develop its Sinai region, two Egyptian government sources told Reuters on Tuesday.

The agreements are tabled to be signed on Thursday during a visit to Cairo by Saudi Arabia’s King Salman, a rare foreign trip.

Saudi Arabia, along with other Gulf oil producers, has pumped billions of dollars into Egypt’s flagging economy since the army toppled President Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood in 2013 after mass protests against his rule.

The Gulf Arab countries see the Muslim Brotherhood as a threat. Egypt is struggling to revive an economy which unravelled following an uprising that toppled President Hosni Mubarak in 2011.

The development deal for Sinai comes at a time when Cairo is fighting an Islamist militant insurgency there and discontent and poverty among the population there is rife, residents say.

The petroleum financing will have an interest rate of 2 percent and a grace period of at least three years, the sources said.

Separately, the deputy head of the Saudi-Egyptian Business Council said on Tuesday that Saudi businessmen will invest a total of $4 billion in projects including the Suez Canal, energy and agriculture, and had already deposited 10 percent of that sum in Egyptian banks.

 

(Writing by Asma Alsharif; Editing by Michael Georgy and Raissa Kasolowsky)

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Ghana presidency appoints Issahaku as new central bank governor

5 April 2016 Comments (0) Africa, Business, Latest Updates from Reuters

ACCRA (Reuters) – Ghana’s presidency appointed Abdul Issahaku as governor of the central bank on Monday, promoting the deputy governor to replace Henry Kofi Wampah, who is ending his four-year term early, a statement said.

The bank has worked to reduce inflation that has been persistently above government targets, just one of the problems facing a country following an International Monetary Fund aid programme to stabilise its economy.

 

(Reporting by Kwasi Kpodo; Writing by Matthew Mpoke Bigg; Editing by Kevin Liffey)

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South Africa considering emergency steel tariffs: WTO

4 April 2016 Comments (0) Africa, Business, Latest Updates from Reuters

GENEVA/JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South Africa is considering imposing emergency tariffs on some iron and steel imports, it said in a filing to the World Trade Organization published on Monday.

South Africa’s steel industry body requested the temporary trade barrier because a surge in import volumes had caused the industry “serious injury” in the form of lower sales, output, market share and capacity utilisation, the filing said.

It blamed a global steel glut and measures by other countries to protect their steelmakers, as well as new investments by current steel importers, which meant South Africa could expect further increases of imports, the filing said.

The analysis was based on data from ArcelorMittal South Africa, which accounts for 70 percent of local production of the affected goods.

South Africa’s steel sector is facing catastrophe and ArcelorMittal may have to close down if the government does not act soon, labour union Solidarity said.

“If there are no concrete plans on the table to assist the struggling steel industry by the end of April, the primary steel industry in South Africa will perish,” said Solidarity’s steel spokesman Marius Croucamp. Another steelmaker, Evraz Highveld Steel and Vanadium, shut its doors in February, shedding around 2,200 jobs in the process. South African trade authorities indicated earlier that they would decide in June whether to aggressively protect steel manufacturers, Solidarity said, but this would be much too late according to the union. ArcelorMittal last month said it would raise steel prices from April as it tries to stabilise its business after heavy losses due to competition from cheap imports. South Africa last year slapped a 10 percent tariff on imported steel, but the emergency tariff, which would not apply to imports of stainless steel or silicon electrical steel, would provide much greater protection.

 

(Reporting by Tom Miles and TJ Strydom; editing by John Stonestreet)

 

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Egypt’s exchange bureaus investigated for hoarding dollars

3 April 2016 Comments (0) Business, Latest Updates from Reuters, Middle East

CAIRO (Reuters) – Egypt’s General Prosecution is investigating around 15 exchange bureaus after the central bank reported them for hoarding dollars and contributing to Egypt’s currency crisis, two prosecution sources told Reuters on Sunday.

Central Bank Governor Tarek Amer is battling against a black market which is sucking up hard currency liquidity from the banking sector and hurting the pound, which has weakened to record lows of 10 per dollar versus an official rate fixed at 8.78 per dollar.

Amer met the general prosecutor on Saturday and requested an investigation be opened targeting around 15 exchange bureaus which he accused of fuelling a dollar crisis, prosecution sources said.

“Based on his request the prosecution … requested from the unit in charge of public funds to investigate these (bureaus),” one prosecution source said.

“(Amer) accused them of causing the dollar crisis by hoarding dollars and refusing to sell, which caused a rise in the price of the dollar,” he said.

Market sources say traders at exchange bureaus often do not sell at official rates, saying they do not have the dollars to sell. They then offer dollars at higher rates, unofficially, outside the exchange bureaus.

The central bank does not have an official spokesperson and officials are not available for comment.

Egypt, which relies heavily on imports, has been facing a dollar shortage since a popular uprising in 2011 drove away foreign investors and tourists, both major sources of hard currency.

The country’s foreign reserves had tumbled to around $16.5 billion in February from $36 billion in 2011.

On March 14 the central bank devalued the pound to 8.85 per dollar from 7.73 and announced it would adopt a more flexible exchange rate. Two days later it strengthened it to 8.78 per dollar and has held to that rate since.

Bankers and traders on the black market say the devaluation is failing to narrow the gap between official and unofficial rates because the demand for hard currency is high and the banks do not have the dollars to meet it.

In previous attempts from the central bank to narrow the gap between official and unofficial rates, officials from the central bank met with exchange bureaus and agreed on a range to curb prices on the parallel market.

In February, the central bank revoked the licences of four exchange bureaus after the first meeting failed to cap the price of the dollar at 8.6 per dollar.

 

(Reporting by Asma Alsharif, Ahmed Hassan; editing by Jason Neely)

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