china – SA MANUFACTURING ONLINE – SOUTH AFRICAN MANUFACTURING

Booming blueberry industry eyes Asian markets

Thu, 22 Aug 2019 09:42:16 +0000

SA does not have access to key markets such as China and South Korea at a time when blueberry imports are growing phenomenally in Asia

21 AUGUST 2019 – 19:15 BEKEZELA PHAKATHI

SA’s booming blueberry industry is looking to gain access to the Asian markets, saying this will create an additional 12,000 jobs in the sector.

The industry is labour intensive and employs three to four workers per hectare. SA does not have access to key markets such as China and South Korea at a time when blueberry imports are growing phenomenally in Asia. This is because SA has not yet complied with the region’s export protocols for the fruit.

“If we gained access to the Chinese market, for example, we could create an additional 12,000 jobs in South Africa, increasing the industry’s projected employment numbers from 14,000 in 2023 to 26,000,” said Jean Kotzé, the chair of the South African Berry Producers Association.

Data compiled by the association shows that SA’s blueberry production is expected to reach a record high of 17,000 tonnes in 2019, up from 11,300 tonnes in 2018.

This will mean an exponential increase in jobs created from 1,000 in 2014 to 8,000 in 2019, said Kotzé. By 2023, the industry expects production to reach 50,000 tonnes which will translate into 14,000 jobs.

“Amid the doom and gloom of South Africa’s recently released unemployment figures, this is a very good story to tell. But the story can be so much better if South Africa’s blueberry industry can gain access to core export markets in the Far East,” said Kotzé.

Kotzé said the potential to grow the export markets is huge. At present, approximately 70% of blueberries produced locally are destined for export markets. The value of blueberry exports grew from R133m in 2013 to just over R1bn in 2018.

In China blueberry imports grew from 2,400 tonnes in 2013 to more than 12,000 tonnes in 2017. It imports berries mainly from Chile and Peru.

“SA should be competing directly with these countries, especially because we grow high-quality blueberry varieties that are preferred by the international markets,” said Kotzé.

“We also have shorter transit times to markets in the East compared to our competitors, and the ability to expand production throughout SA due to the versatility of blueberry crops, which can be grown virtually anywhere.

“Given access to these markets, South African blueberries will be a formidable competitor,” he said.

Kotzé said the association is aware that export protocols for other fruits have taken as long as 12 to 17 years. At this rate the South African blueberry industry will gain access to the Chinese market only in 2045.

“For the sake of the many unemployed agricultural workers in SA, we cannot afford to wait that long. The only way for SA to take advantage of the job-creating potential of berries is if the government and industry work closely together to overcome the hurdles impeding access to markets in the Far East.”

Kotzé said the association had therefore written to agriculture, land reform & rural development minister Thoko Didiza to request a meeting to find solutions to these obstacles.

“We are confident that she will do whatever it takes to help us create thousands of jobs in this exciting emerging sector,” said Kotzé

[email protected]

]]>

China launches world’s first intelligent mega tanker

Mon, 05 Aug 2019 08:43:43 +0000

An Oil carrier with a capacity of 308,000 tons, amounting to approximately 2.275 million oil barrels is the world’s first intelligent mega tanker, a VLCC, which has been installed with an intelligent operating system and is the first smart carrier in the world.

China currently stands as the fourth-largest oil producer in the world, and with the petroleum industry rapidly increasing, it’s easy to see why China has invested in upgrades of marine technology, as demand to supply oil to foreign countries has risen quickly. The new VLCC carrier, which some have nicknamed, “The Journey,” stands 55 meters high, 300 meters long, roughly the size of three mega football fields.

The oil tanker forms a part of the fleet, owned by Dalian Shipbuilding Industry, which forms part of China Shipbuilding Association. With features such as auto-pilot navigation, intelligent cargo management, and integrated efficiency management, the tanker is a breakthrough in technological developments for ships, which includes increased maritime safety, energy conservation, and emission reduction. The tanker has officially completed all mandatory testing and is set to start the course by 2020.

China has overtaken the US in oil imports, with an astounding 6.7 million barrels a day arriving on China’s coast. China became one of the primary importers for oil, is when growth and demand exceeded capacity, as floods would destroy China’s oil fields, thus creating the need for China to import oil to compensate for the loss. Currently, the number of container units in Chinese ports, amount to more than 150 million, creating a sense of safety for any oil crises that might occur in the future.

]]>

China bans foreign waste – but what will happen to the world’s recycling?

Tue, 24 Oct 2017 12:06:18 +0000

The dominant position that China holds in global manufacturing means that for many years China has also been the largest global importer of many types of recyclable materials. Last year, Chinese manufacturers imported 7.3m metric tonnes of waste plastics from developed countries including the UK, the EU, the US and Japan.

However, in July 2017, China announced big changes in the quality control placed on imported materials, notifying the World Trade Organisation that it will ban imports of 24 categories of recyclables and solid waste by the end of the year. This campaign against yang laji or “foreign garbage” applies to plastic, textiles and mixed paper and will result in China taking a lot less material as it replaces imported materials with recycled material collected in its own domestic market, from its growing middle-class and Western-influenced consumers.

The impact of this will be far-reaching. China is the dominant market for recycled plastic. There are concerns that much of the waste that China currently imports, especially the lower grade materials, will have nowhere else to go.

This applies equally to other countries including the EU27, where 87% of the recycled plastic collected was exported directly, or indirectly (via Hong Kong), to China. Japan and the US also rely on China to buy their recycled plastic. Last year, the US exported 1.42m tons of scrap plastics, worth an estimated $495m to China.

Plastic problems

So what will happen to the plastic these countries collect through household recycling systems once the Chinese refuse to accept it? What are the alternatives?

Plastics collected for recycling could go to energy recovery (incineration). They are, after all, a fossil-fuel based material and burn extremely well – so on a positive note, they could generate electricity and improve energy self-sufficiency.

They could also go to landfill (not ideal) – imagine the press headlines. Alternatively, materials could be stored until new markets are found. This also brings problems, however – there have been hundreds of fires at sites where recyclable materials are stored.

Time to change our relationship with plastic?

While it is a reliable material, taking many forms from cling film (surround wrap) to flexible packaging to rigid materials used in electronic items, the problems caused by plastic, most notably litter and ocean plastics, are receiving increasing attention.

One way forward might be to limit its functions. Many disposable items are made from plastic. Some of them are disposable by necessity for hygiene purposes – for instance, blood bags and other medical items – but many others are disposable for convenience.

Looking at the consumer side of things, there are ways of cutting back on plastic. Limiting the use of plastic bags through financial disincentives is one initiative that has shown resultsand brought about changes in consumer behaviour. In France, some disposable plastic items are banned and in the Britain, leading pub chain Wetherspoons has banneddisposable, one-use plastic drinking straws.

Deposit and return schemes for plastic bottles (and drink cans) could also incentivise behaviour. Micro-beads, widely used in cosmetics as exfoliants, are now a target as the damage they do becomes increasingly apparent and the UK government has announced plans to ban their use in some products.

This follows similar actions announced by the US and Canada, with several EU nations, South Korea and New Zealand also planning to implement bans.

Many local authorities collect recycling that is jumbled together. But a major side effect of this type of collection is that while it is convenient for the householder, there are high contamination levels which leads to reduced material quality. This will mean it is either sold for lower prices into a limited market, will need to be reprocessed through sorting plants, or will be incinerated or put in landfill. But changes to recycling collections and reprocessing to improve the quality of materials could be expensive.

Alternatively, recycled plastic could be used to provide chemicals to the petrochemical sector, fuels to the transport and aviation sectors, food packaging and many other applications.

The problems we are now facing are caused by China’s global dominance in manufacturing and the way many countries have relied on one market to solve their waste and recycling problems. The current situation offers us an opportunity to find new solutions to our waste problem, increase the proportion of recycled plastic in our own manufactured products, improve the quality of recovered materials and to use recycled material in new ways.

Source:

The Conversation Africa
The Conversation Africa is an independent source of news and views from the academic and research community. Its aim is to promote better understanding of current affairs and complex issues, and allow for a better quality of public discourse and conversation.
Go to: https://theconversation.com/africa

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Christine Cole is a research fellow, Architecture, Design and the Built Environment, Nottingham Trent University.

]]>

China to score in R70bn SA projects

Sat, 16 Sep 2017 19:40:04 +0000

Two mega-contracts between government and a Chinese parastatal are set to go ahead, despite neither qualifying for deviation from procurement laws.

The department of water and sanitation and rail agency Prasa seem set to hand two contracts, worth more than R70bn, to a Chinese parastatal with neither a public tender nor permission from Treasury to bypass tender laws.

Confidential documents obtained by City Press indicate that the water department, together with Prasa and Treasury, have entered into funding negotiations with the Export-Import Bank of China (Exim Bank). But the documents also appear to show that Exim will only provide the finance on condition that the construction on both projects is done by another Chinese parastatal, the China Communications Construction Company (CCCC).

The talks centre on the construction of the Moloto Rail Development Corridor, estimated to cost R57bn, and the Mzimvubu Water Project, estimated to cost taxpayers more than R16bn.

Two senior government officials close to the projects said the problem was that Prasa and the water department seemed intent on doing this by way of an intergovernmental agreement which would bypass South African procurement laws. They also did not have permission from Treasury to deviate from procurement regulations.

Treasury also has to issue sovereign guarantees. In his 14-point plan to revive the economy, announced in July, Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba promised to be conservative when issuing sovereign guarantees.

One of the officials said: “Neither of the two projects qualify for a deviation … For deviation to be granted, a project has to be extremely urgent, or there must be only one supplier. If they claim that the Chinese will bring their own money, it should still go out on tender because there could very well be other companies that could bring their own finance and construction companies, and still do it cheaper.”

The official said the projects had been a long time coming, “and they were just waiting for regime change at Treasury to push them through”.

Moloto Rail tender imminent

One of the confidential documents is titled Report on the visit of a senior officials’ delegation to Beijing, China, regarding the forum on China-Africa cooperation projects, led by the director-general in the presidency, Dr Cassius Lubisi, from August 13 to 16 2017.

It shows that the Chinese construction parastatal was expecting to sign a contract with Prasa on the sidelines of the Brics summit – involving member states Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – which ended on Thursday in Xiamen, China. The company has already established a team to work on the project. “CCCC intends to sign a commercial contract on the project with Prasa by the time of the Brics summit … to reflect progress made,” the document reads.

“For the construction of the Moloto project, CCCC will utilise mostly local labour. It will also source most materials and equipment locally. CCCC has set up a team made up of the company’s finance economists, technicians (mostly engineers) and specialists on environmental impact assessment to finalise the evaluation of the project.”

CCCC has sent a team to South Africa on several occasions to assess the viability and profitability of the Moloto corridor, the document states, adding that the company’s president, Chen Fenjian, met with President Jacob Zuma in Pretoria in June.

But another senior government official said: “This is an intergovernmental agreement type of procurement and our Constitution does not allow for it. Another key issue here is that Treasury has not approved any procurement deviation, most likely because there are no grounds for approving deviations.

“We should not allow Exim Bank to push CCCC down our throats. The contracts should go out on tender. You can also see from the documents that Gigaba has to issue guarantees, and he has not done so yet.

“I do not see how they can award CCCC the tender when sovereign guarantees, which will be part of the project, have not been issued.”

The proposed rail project, which is expected to link Pretoria and Siyabuswa in Mpumalanga, includes 13 new train stations over 125km of double-track railway. As part of the development, the treacherous R573 Moloto Road will be converted into a dual carriageway.

The legal hurdles

Documents also show that officials were concerned about the legal hurdles posed by intergovernmental agreements that deviate from procurement regulations. According to one of the documents, “a legal opinion on the need for deviation from section 217 of the Constitution should take into consideration the recent decision of the Supreme Court on the procurement for the nuclear programme”.

In April, the Western Cape High Court ruled that the process leading up to Pretoria signing intergovernmental agreements with Russia was flawed, unconstitutional and not in line with sound decision making. It set the process aside.

That same month, City Press reported that Treasury had blocked former energy minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson from procuring the nuclear build programme through intergovernmental agreements. At the time, her department had signed intergovernmental agreements with Russia, China, France, Japan, the US and Korea.

But South Africa’s constraints about the two projects, in terms of its Constitution and procurement legislation, were conveyed to the Chinese, according the document.

The cooperation agreements

The documents show that, in December 2015, the Trans-Caledon Tunnel Authority, which implements bulk water infrastructure on behalf of the water department, signed a cooperation agreement with CCCC. In July last year, the department signed its own cooperation agreement with Exim Bank. The objectives of the cooperation with Exim Bank include obtaining a loan from the bank and building the Mzimvubu project.

Water expert Professor Mike Muller said the project initially made sense because, when it was conceived, it would satisfy various needs, including agriculture, tourism, hydropower and water supply.

“However, some of these activities, such as the agriculture and hydropower component, have fallen off. The department of agriculture in the Eastern Cape thinks it is too expensive and Eskom is no longer keen on the hydropower. If you don’t have hydropower and the agriculture element, you are building a massive dam for no reason. If you need water supply, there is water in the river,” he said.

Treasury spokesperson Mayihlome Tshwete said the water department asked for permission for deviation from procurement legislation about 10 days ago. “The application is being considered,” he said, adding that Prasa had not yet submitted its deviation application.

Tshwete said Treasury also received a request for sovereign guarantees from Water and Sanitation Minister Nomvula Mokonyane, and that it was “under consideration”.

Water department spokesperson Sputnik Ratau said Mzimvubu had been identified as one of the projects that could benefit from the $60bn in funding for Africa that was pledged by Chinese President Xi Jinping at a summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (Focac) in December 2015. He said the conditions of the funding were “still a … matter of negotiation” between the governments.

Treasury was central to these talks, he added.

Mathabatha Mokonyama, the acting director-general of the transport department, said the Moloto project was part of government’s strategic plan to “unlock” the northern mineral belt. It was a response to the “cancer of apartheid special planning” that denied 720 000 people “economic opportunities”.

He said that there was a memorandum of understanding, which “has no contractual commitments”, and that funding options were being “considered within the confines of the Focac arrangement”, and in compliance with South African laws and regulations.

SOURCE:

Sipho Masondo

]]>