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Tuesday, April 6, 2010.

From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I'm Shannon de Ryhove.

Making headlines today:

Mining giant BHP Billiton and South African power utility Eskom will renegotiate controversial electricity supply agreements currently in place for BHP's aluminium smelters in South Africa and Mozambique. The utility expects that the final agreements will be signed by the third quarter of this year.

Eskom says that this is a significant milestone that results in a new pricing path which won't be linked to commodity pricing and foreign currency.

The details of the negotiations and proposals are confidential, but have been developed after lengthy discussions between the two parties.

Statistics released by the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa shows that new vehicle sales grew for the third consecutive month in March, following a dismal 2009.

Sales continued to dart out of the red last month, recording a 20,1% increase over March last year, and a 10,9% gain compared with February this year.

Naamsa also revised its growth expectation for the year upwards, from 7% as recorded in March, to a much more positive 12%.

Also making headlines:

The City of Johannesburg invites public comment on the proposed draft amendments to its rates policy for the 2010/11 financial year.
Isuzu launches its new F-Series, as well as a new bodywork concept.
South Africa would ‘cope' should the World Bank fail to grant the Eskom loan.
And, an economist says that further rate cuts are possible should the rand remain rampant.

That's a round up of news making headlines today.

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