WESGRO LAUNCHES TRADE PORTAL FOR EXPORTERS, INVESTORS – The Western Cape Investment and Trade Promotion Agency (Wesgro) launches a web-based trade portal that allows Western Cape businesses to register their corporate details and post trade leads at no cost. The trade portal is quick, relevant and will allow businesses to access real-time trade and investment information, export opportunities and market intelligence, Wesgro says. Further, international and domestic investors are provided information on accessing finance, immigration, national government incentives, location benchmarking and business retention and expansion services. “The portal’s objective is to increase investment, increase exports and market the province as a business destination. Its only requirement is that businesses must register to access it. We tested the market with a soft launch and, in three days, we had 147 exporters, eight buyers, six investors, 92 service providers and 24 special interest companies register on the trade portal. This is evidence that there is a local and international demand for such a service,” says CEO Nils Flaatten. Exporters were also given the opportunity to engage with foreign importers to get a sense of what the foreign demands are and innovate or expand their export market share. Further, exporters could promote their product range to foreign buyers, while foreign buyers are given a quick and easy avenue to detail their requirements.

FEWER COMPANIES WENT BANKRUPT IN NOVEMBER – STATS SA – The total number of insolvencies for the first 11 months of 2011 decreased by 30.2% to 2 584, compared with 3 703 in the first 11 months of 2010, Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) reports. A year-on-year decrease of 17.3%, from 335 to 277, was estimated for November 2011. The number of liquidations for December decreased by 0.6% to 323 from 325, in the same month in 2010. “This is a continuation of an improving trend – while the monthly data is erratic, on a 12-month rolling average basis, liquidations are down 10.8% year-on-year, indicative of improving health in the corporate sector,” Investec group economist Annabel Bishop says. In the fourth quarter of last year, the number of liquidations increased by 2.1%, from 1 062 to 1 084 year-on-year. “The latest liquidations data show an improvement relative to a year ago but we do not expect a further substantial improvement in 2012, as economic growth is expected to remain below trend this year, at 2.5% year-on-year. The number of liquidations for the year show a year-on-year decrease of 10.8% from 3 992 to 3 559. “This decline was due to a 14.3% drop in voluntary liquidations, resulting in 530 fewer liquidations,” Stats SA says. Further, company liquidations decreased by 17.2%, from 1 939 to 1 606, while close corporation liquidations decreased by 4.9% from 2 053 to 1 953.

SA STEEL PRODUCTION FALLS 12.7%, WORLD OUTPUT UP 6.8% - South Africa’s steel output fell by 12.7% year-on-year to 6.7-million tons last year, while global production surged 6.8% to 1.53-billion tons, the World Steel Association (worldsteel) reports. South African Iron and Steel Institute (Saisi) information specialist Abrie Audie notes that the worldsteel ‘2011 World Crude Steel Production’ report is based on estimates, but says that it is likely that the country’s steel production is down by a significant margin. The country’s steel mills experienced significant downtime during 2011. ArcelorMittal South Africa, a unit of the world's biggest steelmaker, only resumed full production at its Newcastle plant on December 9, after being hit by a furnace failure last year. The furnace failure has impacted an already subdued outlook for the company and Mittal had to source steel from external sources to minimise the impact on its customers. South Africa's second-largest steel producer, Evraz Highveld, also experienced significant downtime while making improvements to its plant, adding to the national decline in yearly steel production, Audie states. “One should also take into consideration that, since the Competition Commission launched an investigation into the local steel industry in July 2008, some of Saisi’s members stopped the regular reporting of their production figures,” he adds. Meanwhile, the worldsteel production figures showed significant growth in Turkey, South Korea and Italy. Of all the significant steel producers, only Japan and Spain showed a decline in yearly production. Asia’s 2011 production was 988.2-million tons of crude steel, an increase of 7.9% compared to 2010. The region’s share of world steel production increased slightly from 64.0% in 2010, to 64.7% in 2011.

Africa & the world

ZAMBIA TO TAKE BACK LIBYA-OWNED ZAMTEL – Zambia will take back a 75% stake in local fixed-line operator Zamtel that is currently held by Lybia's LAP Green Networks, Finance Minister Alexander Chikwanda says. "We made a decision to restore Zamtel back to the people of Zambia," Chikwanda says. "The plight of the workers may be affected temporarily but we are trying to put up something permanent. If we find Zamtel is not adequately capitalised we will avail fresh capital." Zambia seized bank accounts belonging to Zamtel as part of a money-laundering investigation. The company has denied any wrongdoing. Under its previous government, Zambia sold a majority stake in Zamtel to the Libyan operator for $257-million. A government inquiry in November ruled that 2010 transaction illegal. Chikwanda also says Zambia will rebase the kwacha currency by lopping off three zeros, a move that should make it easier for foreign investors to participate in the economy, "The rebasing had to be done when all the fundamentals like inflation and GDP growth were right and we think they are now right," Chikwanda says. Currency lopping is introduced to make commercial calculations easier.

MORE CRACKS FOUND IN AIRBUS A380 WINGS – Airbus insists that its A380 superjumbo is safe to fly after another set of cracks was discovered in the wings of the world's largest jetliner, though an engineering union says that it is downplaying the issue and some Asian airlines say that they will develop inspection programmes. It is the second time in as many weeks that hairline cracks have surfaced inside the mammoth double-decker jet, which entered service four years ago, and their discovery is expected to lead to expanded safety checks. Airbus says the cracks were found on a number of "noncritical" brackets inside the wings of two aircraft during routine two-year inspections, after similar flaws showed up in five aircraft in early January. It says the cracks did not prevent the A380 flying safely, but the Australian engineering body, which handles routine servicing and engine checks on the superjumbos operated by Qantas Airways, says that Airbus's reaction is worrying. "They (Airbus) have described these as tiny cracks, but every crack starts off as a tiny crack and they can grow very quickly," says Stephen Purvinas, federal secretary of the Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association. "I would be worried that Airbus aren't taking seriously the ever increasing number of cracks being found in the wings of their A380 aircraft. Put it this way, I wouldn't put my family on an A380 at the moment," he adds.

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