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Ivory Coast 2015 cashew output hits record 702,000 T

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

ABIDJAN (Reuters) – Ivory Coast’s 2015 cashew nut crop rose 24 percent to a record 702,000 tonnes and marketing of the crop will begin on Feb. 15, the West Africa nation’s government said on Wednesday.

The government has set a minimum farmgate price of 350 CFA francs ($0.5988) per kilogram, compared with 275 CFA francs the previous year, said government spokesman Bruno Kone. He said farmers have received a total 119 billion CFA francs in 2015.

In addition to being the world’s top cocoa producer, Ivory Coast is also Africa’s biggest cashew grower. The increase in cashew output has been boosted by government reform and investment, the statement said. A decade ago, Ivory Coast produced around 80,000 tonnes of raw nuts per year.

With output growing by over 10 percent annually amid strong demand from Asia, the cashew sector has attracted the attention of a government keen to kickstart the economy after a decade of war and political chaos that ended in a brief 2011 civil war.

($1 = 584.5300 CFA francs)

 

(Reporting by Loucoumane Coulibaly; Editing by Matthew Mpoke Bigg)

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Lonmin will not shy away from merger or takeover

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

CAPE TOWN (Reuters) – Platinum producer Lonmin will not “shy away” from any merger or takeover but for now the company is focused on its plan to survive tough market conditions, its chief executive said on Tuesday.

Like its peers, Lonmin is battling sharp falls in commodities prices amid a supply glut and slowing demand growth in top consumer China. Its share price has tumbled by more than 95 percent since the start of 2015.

This has led to market speculation about a possible takeover of the 107-year old company and some analysts have said efforts so far to turn the company around were not enough despite cost cuts and a deeply discounted rights issue in December.

However, no concrete news has emerged.

“We are continuously looking at options to maximise value for our shareholders and all other stakeholders. Should it be of benefit to our shareholders and stakeholders it’s not something we would shy away from,” CEO Ben Magara told Reuters at a mining conference in Cape Town when asked if he would consider takeover offers.

He declined to say if Lonmin was in any talks with any potential parties.

The price of platinum has fallen about 30 percent year-on-year, forcing miners to sell assets and cut production and jobs. Around two-thirds of the industry, whose mines were damaged by the five-month strike in 2014, are making losses.

Magara said the company was for now focused on turning cash positive in a low price environment – which involves closing high-cost shafts and cutting jobs.

“That’s what I am worrying about. The investors have given us money and we must deliver. Investors are asking if we are going to deliver on this,” Magara said.

Hurt by a prolonged 2014 strike, rising costs and the plunging platinum price, Lonmin raised $400 million through a cash call in December.

The rights issue was undersubscribed even though it was deeply discounted, forcing the company’s underwriters to buy shares in the company and showed that investors were losing faith in the beleaguered mining sector.

The shares were priced at just a penny each on Nov. 9, a 94 percent discount to the stock’s previous session closing price of 16.25 pence on the London Stock Exchange

“I have no doubt that there will be pressure on us when we finally start making money. Will we go and put it in a project first or will we pay investors?” Magara said.

“I think it’s important that investors will get their money back first. They deserve it.”

Lonmin has said it will continue to review its services and reduce costs, mainly through job reduction, as the slide in the price of its main commodity bites further.

“We have seen cycles come and go and I suppose this shall pass but I have to admit, it’s one of the worst I have seen,” Magara said.

 

(By Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo, Editing by James Macharia and David Evans)

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Harsh winds, lack of rain to hit Ghana cocoa output

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

ACCRA (Reuters) – Ghana could lose as much as 25 percent of its projected cocoa output this season as harsh winds and a lack of rain confound efforts to boost yields in the world’s second-largest producer, a government source said.

The Harmattan wind, which blows off the Sahara, sapping soil moisture and spoiling seeds, came early this season and has intensified in recent weeks, stunting pod growth more than usual and stifling government plans for expansion.

The West African country had hoped to produce 850,000-900,000 tonnes of cocoa in the 2015/16 crop year, up from the previous season’s 740,000 tonnes.

But a government source with knowledge of crop estimates said full-year production might not exceed 750,000 tonnes, and could fall as much as 25 percent short of initial estimates.

In addition to the impact of the weather, some cocoa farms have been destroyed by seasonal bushfire, the source said.

Regulator Cocobod, which had provided free early-maturing hybrid seedlings and fertilisers to boost the crop, said it was too early to know the effect of the weather on its output target and declined to give an estimate.

“Our technical men are just about to go to the field and until they come out with their findings, it will be too early to estimate the damage caused by the Harmattan,” Cocobod spokesman Noah Amenyah said.

In major western and eastern growing regions, farmers told Reuters that they are struggling to even meet last year’s quota.

“We started the year with high hopes because they (Cocobod) gave us all the inputs we needed, but we don’t have the same level of hope now,” 59-year-old farmer Stingo Arthur said, pointing at the withered pods clustered on the trees of his 20-acre farm.

“It is severe now because there is no rain.”

Arthur had expected to harvest more than thirty 64-kilogram (141-lb) bags this season, up from 20 bags last year after boosting his farm with 516 hybrid seedlings and fertiliser last June. So far, he has harvested only 18 bags.

Chief cocoa farmer for the Eastern region, Nana Obeng Akrofi, said he had revised down his original harvest target of 200 bags to “not more than 160” from his 45-acre cocoa cultivation at Bonsu, due to the devastating effects of the Harmattan.

Ghana produces 70 percent of its output in its main crop harvest between October and January. A July-September light crop is discounted to local processing companies.

The bad weather means farmers did not see the volume of beans that normally come at the tail end of the main crop.

Weather forecasters predict rain in mid February or early March but many farmers say that will be too late for light crop beans.

“My fear is that the light crop may be worse,” Akrofi said.

 

(Reporting by Kwasi Kpodo; Editing by Makini Brice, Edward McAllister and Jan Harvey)

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Zambia scraps 73rise in electricity tariffs

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

LUSAKA (Reuters) – Zambia has scrapped a nearly 73 percent hike in electricity tariffs for industrial and commercial users following an outcry from consumers, a spokesman for state power firm Zesco said on Tuesday.

The country’s power regulator last December approved an increase in electricity charges to 10.35 U.S. cents per kilowatt hour (KWh) from six cents.

“We have withdrawn the application we made to the Energy Regulation Board for higher electricity tariff. We had a lot of complaints and want to consult further,” Zesco spokesman Henry Kapata said.

 

 

(Reporting by Chris Mfula; Writing by Stella Mapenzauswa; Editing by James Macharia)

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Nigeria’s Dangote Cement gains after plans to expand operations

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

LAGOS (Reuters) – Nigeria’s Dangote Cement share rose sharply on Monday after the firm, majority owned by billionaire Aliko Dangote, announced plans to expand.

Dangote Cement shares rose 7.8 percent on the local bourse after it said it plans to build new cement plants in Nigeria and increase local production capacity to 38.25 metric tonnes per year from 29.25 metric tonnes.

The new plants will help it cut the cost of production and lower product prices in the market, it said.

The local bourse rebounded on Monday, ending three consecutive days of decline.

The stock index, which has the second-biggest weighting after Kuwait on the MSCI frontier market index, gained 2.02 percent to 23,977 points.

Dangote Cement, which accounts for a third of the market’s capitalisation, traded at 134.98 naira ($0.6783) at the close.

Other gainers include Unilever, which was up 4.94 percent and PZ Cussons, which rose 4.78 percent.

 

($1 = 199.0000 naira)

 

(Reporting by Oludare Mayowa, editing by Louise Heavens)

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GM suspends Egypt operations due to currency crisis: company source

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

CAIRO (Reuters) – General Motors has temporarily suspended its operations in Egypt due a currency crisis, a company source told Reuters on Monday.

Import-dependent Egypt has been in economic crisis since a 2011 uprising and susequent political turmoil drove foreign investors and tourists away. Dollar reserves have more than halved to $16.4 billion since then.

“The entire sector has a currency crisis we can’t make a car without some of the parts. We stopped production temporarily as of yesterday until we can clear the imports held up in customs,” the source said.

“There is still some leeway with the government and the banks to solve the issue.”

General Motors’s Egypt operation includes assembling trucks and cars. It makes 25 percent of Egypt’s vehicles.

Egypt’s central bank has been rationing dollars and keeping the pound artificially strong at 7.7301 per dollar through weekly dollar auctions.

 

(Reporting Ehab Farouk; Writing by Ahmed Aboulenein; Editing by Louise Ireland)

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Etisalat sues MTN over use of frequency in Nigeria

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

LAGOS (Reuters) – Etisalat Nigeria has filed a court case against rival MTN over the use of a new frequency band which MTN acquired when it bought internet provider Visafone, it said on Monday.

South Africa’s MTN bought the privately held Nigerian firm Visafone last month to improve its broadband services in its biggest market, giving it access to the use of 800 MHz frequency band on CDMA technology.

MTN operates 900 MHz and 1800 MHz frequency bands which the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) renewed last November, similar to frequencies operated by Etisalat and India’s Airtel that use GSM technology.

“The action is considered necessary to challenge the use of the spectrum by MTN at this time,” the local arm of Abu Dhabi-listed telecoms firm Etisalat said in a statement.

“The use of the 800 MHz spectrum to deploy broadband services ahead of its competitors … will further entrench MTN’s dominance in the Nigerian telecommunications sector”.

Etisalat said it was in contact with the NCC to understand the logic of its decision to approve the MTN deal despite declaring the South African firm a dominant player in Nigeria’s wholesale and retail voice markets in 2013.

MTN and the NCC did not respond to requests for comment.

The legal challenge is the latest headache for MTN in Nigeria, which contributed more than a third of the company’s total revenue in 2014.

Nigeria’s telecoms regulator fined the South African company $5.2 billion last year for failing to disconnect unregistered lines on time, before reducing the penalty by a quarter in December. MTN is contesting the fine, which is greater than its past two years of net profit.

Mobile phone subscription in Nigeria, Africa’s biggest telecom market, has grown in leaps and bounds since the advent of GSM technology in 2001 but average revenue per user (ARPU) has been on a downward trend due to increased competition.

MTN has 62 million lines in Nigeria while Visafone has 2 million. Etisalat ranks fourth in the industry with 23.5 million subscribers, according to NCC’s data.

 

(Reporting by Chijioke Ohuocha; Editing by Ulf Laessing and Adrian Croft)

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South Africa’s Bidvest to spin off, float food service unit

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

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South Africa’s Bidvest Group Ltd on Monday said it plans to spin off and separately list its food business on the local stock exchange, beginning the industrial conglomerate’s latest attempt to separate its biggest division.

Bidvest, a sprawling company involved in businesses from shipping to selling household mops, has said in the past that the food business should be separated because its value was not reflected in the company’s share price.

Founder and chief executive Brian Joffe jettisoned plans to list the division in London in 2014, and rejected buyout bids for it three years earlier.

“To provide shareholders with the opportunity to participate directly in Bidvest’s food service operations, Bidvest intends to unbundle and separately list the food service business,” the company said in a statement.

The division, Bidvest’s biggest and one that contributes over half of the company’s sales of 200 billion rand ($12.51 billion), supplies pubs, restaurants and hotels in Europe, South America and Asia.

The division competes with companies such as Sysco Corp of the United States.

 

($1 = 15.9814 rand)

 

(Reporting by Tiisetso Motsoeneng; Editing by Christopher Cushing)

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Workers at Ivory Coast’s state oil company Petroci extend strike

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

ABIDJAN (Reuters) – Workers at Ivory Coast’s state oil company Petroci have extended a strike for an additional 72 hours as they sought to bring in employees from other companies in the sector to join their protest against layoffs, union officials said on Friday.

Fifty of Petroci’s 600 employees were made redundant last month and another 150 are expected to be dismissed, union leaders have said, in the wake of an audit recommending that the company cut costs and staff amid falling oil prices.

Workers launched a 72-hour strike on Tuesday.

“Next week we will intensify the strike and see if other employees from other companies in the sector join the Petroci employees in this strike,” said Geremie N’Guessan Wondje, secretary general of the SYNTEPCI union.

Petroci offered to pay 10 dismissed managers six months salary while the 40 other laid-off employees were to receive eight months salary. However, a member of the company’s management said the union was demanding 20 months.

“That’s not possible. We don’t have all that money,” said the official, who asked not to be named.

Petroci is a small oil and natural gas producer but it is heavily involved in the downstream sector, controlling 36 percent of domestic gas distribution in French-speaking West Africa’s largest economy as well as about 30 filling stations.

It also partners with companies with production and exploration operations and manages a logistical base that services offshore blocks.

SYNTEPCI represents workers from 16 companies in addition to Petroci that could be called upon to strike out of solidarity.

Those companies include state-owned Societe Ivoirienne de Raffinage (SIR), which operates a refinery with a capacity of 65,000 barrels per day, as well as logistics firms and fuel retailers such as Total.

 

 

(Reporting by Ange Aboa; Writing by Joe Bavier, editing by David Evans)

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South Africa’s rand flat ahead of U.S. jobs data

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

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South Africa’s rand weakened slightly early on Friday, pausing a rally that has seen the unit trade below the crucial 16 rand per dollar mark for three straight sessions as global risk appetite has improved.

Stocks were set to open flat at 0700 GMT, with the JSE securities exchange’s Top-40 futures index slipping 0.1 percent.

By 0645 the rand was flat at 15.8995 per dollar, easing off its firmest level in one month after statements from the United States Federal Reserve this week suggested interest rates there would remain lower for longer.

Government bonds were also firmer, with the benchmark paper due in 2026 shedding 2 basis points to 9.115 percent.

Traders said currency moves would be limited ahead of the U.S. non-farm payrolls data due later in the session.

“Markets are still deciding on a consensus view for how many U.S. rate hikes we will see this year, and a weak jobs report could put the impetus back in the hands of doves,” said research house NKC African Economics in a note.

Recently weak U.S. economic data, and dovish comments from New York Federal Reserve President William Dudley, have led investors to pare bets on a steady pace of Fed rate increases.

 

(Reporting by Mfuneko Toyana; Editing by Ed Stoddard)

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