CAPE TOWN: SA’s BULK export volumes rose 6.2% year on year in April to the second-highest monthly total to date, of 16.2-million tonnes, data from the Transnet National Ports Authority showed on Thursday. The record monthly tonnage of 16.4-million tonnes was achieved in January 2015.
The April year-on-year increase was the first year-on-year rise in 2016 after declines of 11.7%, 15.7% and 12.2% in March, February and January respectively. This followed a 7.3% increase in 2015 to a record annual tonnage of 168-million tonnes.
Bulk exports out of Richards Bay, which are mostly coal, jumped 19.3% year on year in April to 8.6-million tonnes after growing 8.2% in 2015 to 93-million tonnes. As Richards Bay Coal Terminal (RBCT) no longer releases operational statistics, economists are finding it more difficult to track economic performance in SA in a timeous manner.
Despite the 40% plunge in the iron ore price in 2015, bulk exports out of Saldanha, which are mostly iron ore, increased 12.7% in 2015 to 63.4-million tonnes, but in April 2016 there was a 9.0% year on year fall to 6.5-million tonnes. If Saldanha exports are excluded, then total bulk exports would have grown by 19.5% year on year in April.
The 30% slump in the maize harvest last season compared with the previous season also affected bulk exports with grain and sugar bulk exports from the other ports such as Durban down 19.3% in 2015 to 11.6–million tonnes, although there was a surprise 12.8% year-on-year rise in December, the first year-on-year increase since January 2015.
In January 2016, bulk exports out of the other ports plunged 44.0% year on year to 742,140 tonnes, but rose to 924,943 tonnes in February, which was still a 7.8% year-on-year decline. In March there was a 27.5% year-on-year jump to 899,038 tonnes and that good growth continued in April with a 20.6% year-on-year increase to 1,149,484 tonnes. Despite the April year-on-year rise, total bulk exports are still down 8.2% year on year in the first four months of 2016.
