TUESDAY, 2.30PM:
PETROLEUM product sales in South Africa rose 4,5% in the first quarter year-on-year, a sharp increase last year’s first quarter increase of 1,3%, according to the South African Petroleum Industry Association.
Petrol accounted for over half of total sales. Petrol sales increased 2,4%. Diesel sales rose 7,1%, jet fuel sales 10,4% and illuminating paraffin 13,6%. Paraffin is used for lighting and heating by more than half of the South African population.
Low pressure gas sales dropped 1,8% and fuel oil sales dropped 4,8%.
Though unleaded petrol sells at a 4c/l discount to leaded petrol, sales have reached only 9,9% of total petrol sales. The target was 15% to 25% and the association is expected to ask government to increase the price difference between the two products.
BUSINESS BRIEFS
SAA MANAGEMENT PLAN REJECTED
SOUTH African Airways management’s plan for picking up the company has been rejected by labour and the Transnet board, according to labour sources. Transnet’s restructuring adviser Kenneth Mamane, however, says the board has simply asked SAA to clarify certain budgetary issues. An international airline consulting company, Roland Berger and Partners, has now been hired to assist in developing the new business plan. The corporatisation of SAA is now scheduled for July, after legal glitches prevented it happening on April 1. Unions have objected to a management refusal to carry over existing agreements to the new corporate entity.
PAPER GIANTS ACCUSED OF COLLUSION
PAPER-making giants Sappi and Mondi have been accused of monopolistic and anti-competitive behaviour, attempting to squash small paper retailers, and abuse of South Africa’s anti-dumping regulations. Randburg’s Atlantic Paper Supplies has complained to the Competition Board that the companies’ “exorbitant” prices force it to import photocopy paper from Brazil. The paper giants then asked the government to slap punitive tariffs on the Brazilian supplier, Ripasa Celulose e Papel. The matter has been referred to the Board on Tariffs and Trade.
Meanwhile, Sappi has completed the integration of its four fine paper operations to create Sappi Fine Paper, the world’s biggest coated paper producer with a quarter of the western world’s wood-free coated fine paper market.
METRO BUILDS ON OZ INVESTMENT
GROCERY and merchandise group Metro Cash & Carry has increased its stake in Australian wholesale grocery company Davids to 78,2% of the ordinary shares.
PIK SPRINGS TO ARMS DEALER’S DEFENCE
FORMER Foreign Affairs Minister Pik Botha said last week that he will testify on behalf of a Portuguese arms dealer claiming 10% of a $3-billion sanctions-busting South African helicopter purchase. Jorge Pinhol claims he established a conduit through Portugal to allow Armscor to purchase 50 Oryx helicopters in kit form from French manufacturer Aerospatiale. By routing the deal through Portugal, the sale evaded the United Nations arms embargo against South Africa. Both Aerospatiale and Armscor are now denying knowledge of Pinhol’s involvement. He is suing Eurocopter in a French court for his cut.
ANGLO POISED FOR MINORCO BUY-OUT?
BRITISH newspaper The Sunday Telegraph reports that South African conglomerate Anglo American is ready to buy out the remaining stock in Minorco, an international investment company founded with SA money. Anglo currently owns 68% of Minorco.
NASPERS INCOME DROPS 36%
NASIONALE Pers, the publishing group, says its latest management accounts indicate a 36% fall in net after-tax income, excluding associates’ earnings, for the last financial year. The drop will be mitigated to some extent by an extraordinary profit from a property sale, reducing the decline to 29%. The government’s cutback on school book orders has hit the company hard.
MORE RUSSIAN DIAMONDS FOR DE BEERS?
ALMAZY Rossii-Sakha, Russia’s largest diamond producer, wants an extention of an agreement in terms of which South Africa’s De Beers diamond cartel purchases $500-million worth of rough diamonds annually. The deal is currently set to expire on December 31. The Russian producer expects 1998 production to total $1,5-billion.
OUTSOURCING PILGRIM’S REST
CERTAIN facilities in the historical mining village and tourist destination Pilgrim’s Rest will be outsourced to create more income, Mpumalanga Public Works MEC Jackson Mthembu said on Friday. Outsourcing is being explored as an option to avoid full privatisation of the village. Mthembu said R7,5-million has been allocated for the development of tourism in the town. The town’s unused railway line, for example, is costing the province millions of rands to maintain.
NO BRITISH SUBS FOR SA
BRITAIN has withdrawn its offer of four Upholder class submarines to South Africa, previously part of a package offer of military hardware which also includes corvettes, fighter jets, helicopters and tanks. The submarine offer was withdrawn after Canada exercised an option to buy them. It is believed the Canadians could be paying R2,8-billion for the subs. The offer of the Upholders was what prompted SA to expand a tender call for corvettes into a call for a broader, more complex defence capital equipment deal.
KWAZULU-NATAL HOUSING FRAUD
HOUSING subsidy fraud in KwaZulu-Natal amounting to R300-million is to be investigated by order of a Presidential proclamation expected on Thursday. It is thought the Heath special investigating unit into corruption in government could uncover as many as 53000 subsidies affected by the scams. Both housing officials and beneficiaries could be implicated, and it is increasingly feared that subsidy fraud may affect other provinces.