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South Africa must admit national drought crisis to help farmers

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

PRETORIA (Reuters) – South Africa must formally declare a national disaster for the government to release relief funds to help farmers through the worst drought in a century, the country’s largest grain producer group said on Wednesday.

While higher than expected January plantings saw Grain SA reduce its 2016 maize imports figure to 3.8 million tonnes from 5 million tonnes previously, late seeding has put young plants at high risk from extreme weather over their growth cycle.

With five out of nine provinces labelled disaster zones due to drought, the country now needs to acknowledge the situation nationally as farmers are starting to capitulate, Grain SA Chief Executive Jannie de Villiers told Reuters.

“Our Minister of Agriculture is well informed but I think we need leadership to declare it a disaster so that the process can be triggered,” he said.

The Agriculture Ministry did not immediately respond to request for comment by email and phone.

Should a national disaster be declared, emergency relief funds would be released from the National Treasury to eligible farmers. However, any funding would probably come too late to secure the future of farmers on the brink of going bankrupt or selling their holdings, De Villiers said.

The Mpumalanga, Limpopo, KwaZulu-Natal, Free State and North West provinces have been declared disaster zones for agriculture as a blistering drought sucks moisture from the soil and dam levels fall, causing a delay in planting crops for the crucial southern hemisphere summer season.

The South African Weather service said last week the El Nino weather pattern which triggered the historic drought is expected to persist, toughening the situation for farmers who scrambled to plant crops when rains started.

Farmers of cattle, sheep and goats have been urged by the government to cut the sizes of their herds as the drought has scorched grazing land and the 2016 maize harvest is expected to fall 25 percent from last year to 7.44 million tonnes.

Industry sources say food prices may rise 20 percent or more this year, putting upward pressure on overall inflation, which rose to 5.2 percent in December from 4.8 percent in November.

The most traded July white maize contract closed 1.6 percent higher at 4,943 rand a tonne on Wednesday. White maize for delivery in March is trading near record highs above 5,000 rand a tonne.

De Villiers also signalled trouble ahead for the subsequent crop season, saying farmers would struggle to obtain crop finance after this year’s disaster and restrictions on insurance for lost income.

“Can the farmers plant again if they don’t have crop finance? If they can’t pay their debt the farmers are not going to plant next year even if its raining.”

 

(By Zandi Shabalala. Reporting by Veronica Brown and Zandi Shabalala; editing by James Macharia and David Clarke)

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El Sewedy Electric unit in $484.5 mil Angola power stations deal

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

CAIRO (Reuters) – A subsidiary of El Sewedy Electric has signed a $484.5 million contract to build three power stations in Angola but the deal is “not yet in effect”, the Egyptian firm said in a bourse statement on Wednesday.

The contract between subsidiary El Sewedy Power and the Angolan government is subject to approval by Angola’s president and a specialised court, it said.

“The contract involves supplying, building, operating, financing and maintaining the stations. The project will be done during 2016 but the contract is not yet in effect and is suspended on certain conditions, including the president’s approval,” it said.

 

(Reporting by Asma Alsharif; editing by Jason Neely)

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South Africa’s private sector activity still in negative territory

3 February 2016 Comments (0) Africa, Business, Latest Updates from Reuters

JOHANNESBURG, Feb 3 (Reuters) – Activity in South Africa’s private sector remained in decline at the start of 2016, a survey showed on Wednesday, with employment, new orders and output all falling since December.

The Standard Bank Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI), compiled by Markit, edged up to 49.6 in January from 49.1 a month before, but remained below the 50 mark that separates expansion from contraction.

“While the weak rand helped exports to stabilise, it also exerted some upward pressure on input costs, resulting in the steepest increase in overall input costs for five months,” Markit said. South Africa’s rand slid about 25 percent against the dollar last year, weighed down by a dim outlook for Africa’s most developed economy and slowing growth in China, a key consumer of local commodities. Investors are also worried about the prospect of undue political interference in economic policy after President Jacob Zuma suddenly fired the finance minister in December.

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Kumba Iron Ore sees 2015 profit plunging as supply glut persists

3 February 2016 Comments (0) Africa, Business, Latest Updates from Reuters

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South Africa’s Kumba Iron Ore said on Tuesday it expected full-year earnings to December 2015 plunge as much as 67 percent as it battled slumping prices for the steel-making ingredient.

The unit of Anglo American said headline earnings per share (EPS) are expected to fall by between 65 percent and 67 percent to 11.45 rand and 12.05 rand.

Kumba is due to release its full-year results on Feb. 9.

Headline EPS is the main gauge of profit in South Africa and strips out certain one-off items.

Iron ore prices fell about 35 percent in 2015 due to a supply glut and growth concerns in top consumer China, forcing Kumba to cut jobs and restructure its main mine, Sishen.

Kumba took a 6 billion rand ($374 million) writedown charge in 2015 for the reconfiguring of the Sishen mine.

Its shares initially fell as much as 8 percent before recouping losses to close 3.1 percent higher at 37.51 rand.

“The market had expected that there will be some write off. It is good that Kumba is taking the medicine it needs and focusing on cutting costs,” said Sanlam Private Wealth portfolio manager Greg Katzenellenbogen.

The world’s largest producer of iron ore, Vale SA, said on Thursday it would recommend to its board that no dividend be paid to shareholders this year because of the slump in commodity prices.

($1 = 16.0535 rand)

 

(Reporting by Zandi Shabalala and Thekiso Anthony Lefifi; Editing by Tiisetso Motsoeneng and David Evans)

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Eskom names short-term suppliers for Arnot coal-fired plant

2 February 2016 Comments (0) Africa, Business, Latest Updates from Reuters

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South Africa’s Eskom will use coal from Glencore, South32 and five other suppliers to power the Arnot power station, including Exxaro Resources with whom it did not renew a 40-year contract in December, the utility’s spokesman said in a Twitter post on Tuesday.

The short-term supply agreements are separate from the list of bidders for the new long-term contract, the outcome of which Eskom said it will announce before the end of the first quarter of this year.

Eskom listed lesser-known Tegeta, Keaton Energy, Hlagisa Mining and Umsimbithi Mining as the other short-term suppliers to the 2,100 MW Arnot plant.

 

(Reporting by TJ Strydom; editing by Jason Neely)

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Sasol to start drilling in new Mozambique oil and gas fields

1 February 2016 Comments (0) Africa, Business, Latest Updates from Reuters

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South Africa’s Sasol has received the green light from Mozambique to develop more oil and gas fields in the southern African state, the company said on Monday, without disclosing how much the project will cost.

Mozambique is sitting on huge gas reserves and developing liquefied natural gas export projects is expected to bring tens of billions of dollars to the impoverished state.

The petrochemicals giant, which makes 40 percent of its revenue from oil, said the project, about 600 km (372 miles) north of the capital Maputo, will be rolled out in stages. The first phase will include an oil, liquefied petroleum gas and gas project adjacent to its Pande and Temane fields.

Natural gas from Pande and Temane fields, in which Sasol holds a majority stake, is currently produced and processed at a central facility before being transported on an 865 km pipeline to gas markets in Mozambique and South Africa.

Sasol President and Chief Executive David Constable said the project was a “major milestone in further developing natural resources, which will significantly benefit Southern Africa.”

Gas projects being developed by Italy’s Eni and U.S. energy firm Anadarko will be given the final go-ahead by the end of this year, the state-run National Hydrocarbon Company (ENH) said on Sunday.

 

(Reporting by Peroshni Govender; Editing by James Macharia)

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Ugandan inflation eases to 7.6% year-on-year in January

1 February 2016 Comments (0) Africa, Business, Latest Updates from Reuters

KAMPALA (Reuters) – Uganda’s inflation eased to 7.6 percent year-on-year in January from a revised 8.4 percent a month earlier, helped by a slowdown in food inflation, the statistics office said on Monday.

The Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS) said annual food inflation had slowed to 12.7 percent in January, from 13.8 percent in December.

Core inflation – which excludes food, fuel, electricity and metered water – decreased to 7.1 percent in January from 7.6 percent in December, UBOS said in a news conference.

On a monthly basis, headline prices rose 0.1 percent in January after rising 0.2 percent in December.

David Bagambe, a trader at Diamond Trust Bank, said that, despite the decrease in inflation, the central bank was unlikely to start easing its policy stance because it needed to maintain high yields on its debt instruments to manage liquidity.

“For now, the central bank is more concerned about the huge amount of liquidity in the system than the small changes in inflation,” he said.

 

 

 

 

(Reporting by Elias Biryabarema; Editing by Kevin Liffey)

 

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Egypt’s NBE bank sold $2.5 bil in 3 months to cover imports

31 January 2016 Comments (0) Business, Latest Updates from Reuters, Middle East

SHARM AL-SHEIKH, Egypt (Reuters) – Egypt’s biggest lender, the state-owned National Bank of Egypt, provided more than $2.5 billion to cover import payments in the last three months as the country faces a currency crisis, Chairman Hisham Okasha told Reuters in an interview.

Egypt, which depends heavily on imports, has been suffering from a worsening dollar crunch since a 2011 uprising drove away foreign investors and tourists, both major sources of hard currency.

In its latest effort to curb dollar spending on imports, Egypt announced on Sunday it would raise tariff rates on a series of goods from Feb. 1.

“During November, December and January we opened letters of credit worth more than $2.5 billion to meet import payments,” Okasha told Reuters on the sidelines of a banking conference in Sharm al-Sheikh.

In December, the central bank said it sold $7.6 billion in previous weeks to help importers pay for goods. It was not clear whether NBE’s dollar injection was part of the central bank’s $7.6 billion.

No comparative figures for letters of credit opened were immediately available as banks are not required to disclose them.

The central bank has been keeping the pound artificially strong at 7.7301 pounds to the dollar, burning through its reserves which tumbled to around $16.4 billion in December from $36 billion in 2011.

In order to fight a black market the central bank imposed a cap of $50,000 a month on dollar deposits at banks, making it harder for importers to open letters of credit and clear cargoes.

It later raised the cap to $250,000 but only on specific imports of essential goods, capital machinery and manufacturing components and medicines.

Okasha also said his bank aims to increase its deposits and loans portfolio by around 15 percent by the end of 2015/16.

The bank’s loans portfolio was around 140 billion pounds in June 2015, while deposits were 447 billion pounds.

“Deposits reached more than 485 billion pounds by the end of December 2015 while loans reached around 178 billion pounds,” Okasha said.

 

(Reporting by Ehab Farouk; Writing by Asma Alsharif; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky)

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Cargo drones, an economic revolution for Africa?

29 January 2016 Comments (0) Africa, Business, Featured

Africa drone

Cargo drones come to Africa and it could mean an economic revolution for the continent

Drones are now part of our modern consciousness, our everyday reality. Having had a sinister reputation from the association with warfare, their potential is now being harnessed for good.

The development of cargo drones is currently underway across the globe, sparking interest from pioneering technological heavyweights like Google and Amazon, as the revolutionary form of delivery transport.

Cargo drones are essentially un-piloted flying robots that carry medium sized goods. There are different styles to fit different purposes and sizes vary between 3-6 meters in length.

Top internet retailer, Amazon, said on their website that soon viewing cargo drones will be, “as normal as seeing mail trucks on the road today.”

For Africa this could mean far more than how a parcel is delivered. Their use has been put forward as a possible boost for the continent’s economy.

Leapfrogging the problem of infrastructure in Africa

With Africa’s rapid economic growth comes the need to build and improve infrastructure. It is estimated that Africa’s shortfall is a much-needed $50 billion per year in this sector. There simply is not enough money to build the roads and lay the new train lines required to keep up with increasing trade.

John Ledgard, the director of Afrotech and long-time Africa correspondent of the Economist has a plan. The futurist thinker sees a way to combat the gridlock that African trade is otherwise unquestionably going to face, failing spending $93 billion a year on financing infrastructure. He hopes to unlock the sky by eventually linking east to west.

Afrotech plans to fill the gap in Africa’s transportation by using cargo drones and their very own aerial highway. Starting by setting up routes in Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda, eventually all parts of Africa will be connected. The initiative from Ecole polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland, is working with architects Foster + Partners to create the drone-ports for the routes which hope to be set up by the end of 2016.

“The Droneport project is about doing ‘more with less,’ capitalizing on the recent advancements in drone technology,” said Lord Foster, chairman and founder of Foster + Partners.

The biggest to the smallest airport in the world

Foster + Partners, responsible for the creation of the world’s largest airport in Beijing, China, will now create what could be considered in effect, the world’s smallest airport. Three dome shaped buildings will comprise the Droneport that will rest on Rwanda’s red earth. Designed to run on clean energy, it will eventually provide employment for the surrounding community.

Rwanda was chosen for the trial because the terrain is difficult to travel through and very little air traffic flies over. From here half the country will be reachable via the cargo drone routes. Prioritizing medical and time sensitive cargo initially, Ledgard has a clear vision of how the project will mature. Phase 1: mainly hospitals and humanitarian emergencies. Phase 2: industries that provide spare parts and building equipment.

“Phase 1 and 2 would be enough to make the drones useful contributors. But the real reason for the technology,” says Ledgard “is Phase 3, when the drones will better connect businesses with customers across Africa.”

 

Jonathan Ledgard

Jonathan Ledgard

Turbulence expected

All going to plan, this could be the making of the developing Africa. Inevitably there are valid causes for concern and tangible doubts, but no one is more aware of them than Ledgard himself. He openly cites the areas that may be of concern but says most risks are small or can be overcome and that it is an improvement on current affairs.

Important for Africa is whether it can adopt this new technology quickly enough to make it beneficial. It will need several aspects to come together: the army to ensure security, government leaders of regional economic groupings to put free trade into practice and laws to be passed allowing fully independent drone flight. With Africa united, this could truly be an economic revolution for the future.

“Cargo drones can affordably and precisely collapse time and space….in a city environment you want to collapse time and in a rural environment you want to collapse space,” said Jonathan Ledgard.

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East African Breweries to make more cheap beer as taxes rise

29 January 2016 Comments (0) Africa, Business, Latest Updates from Reuters

NAIROBI (Reuters) – Kenya’s East African Breweries Ltd (EABL) expects a hike in beer excise duty to hit demand in its home market in the coming months and will raise output of a lower-taxed cheap brand in an attempt to offset the impact, its CEO said on Friday.

Last month, Kenya lifted the excise tax by 43 percent to 100 shillings ($0.9785) per liter of beer, driving up retail prices by at least 20 shillings per bottle.

“Kenyan consumers are incredibly price sensitive so moving up by 20 shillings is a big deal,” said Charles Ireland, group CEO of EABL, which is controlled by Britain’s Diageo.

The hike in excise duty, designed to shore up government revenues, was the first one in four years.

“I would prefer that we saw a more regular increase which was smaller rather than an irregular increase, which is bigger, because I think the impact for consumers and the trade would be more manageable,” Ireland said.

EABL plans to boost the output of its cheaper Senator Keg beer, which is taxed at a rate of 10 shillings per litre, to offset the impact of the taxes on mainstream and premium beers.

Sales of Senator Keg, which is dispensed in mugs from barrels in bars, recovered during the company’s fiscal first half to December, after the government rowed back on a 2013 decision to tax it at the same rate as mainstream beers such as Tusker.

“We have got some additional capacity coming online so we will be able to sell more Senator into the market in the (fiscal) second half,” Ireland said.

Beer exports into South Sudan, which plummeted 74 percent in the first half due to civil conflict, were not expected to rebound soon, the chief executive said.

“The outlook is bleak. I don’t think that South Sudan will improve in the short-term,” he said.

EABL boosted its interim dividend by a third, as net debt fell and the company generated more cash, and Ireland said it would keep rewarding shareholders if profit growth was maintained.

First-half profit after tax from operations rose 16 percent as sales grew and net finance costs dropped by 38 percent.

“I hope it will continue, and if it does, we will be kind of looking to make sure our shareholders benefit from that performance,” Ireland said.

“We are getting into a decent shape from a balance sheet perspective.”

($1 = 102.2000 Kenyan shillings)

 

(By Duncan Miriri. Editing by Mark Potter)

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