Seifsa encouraged by uptick in building material sales, but fears its derailment
Wholesale trade sales data released by Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) shows an increase in sales of 31.3% year-on-year in May, to R158-billion in constant terms.
Month-on-month, sales increased 6.3% from April. Year-to-date, wholesale trade sales have increased by 14.5%.
Sales of construction and building materials increased to R13-billion from R11-billion in April, with expansionary year-on-year growth of 115.9% in May.
The Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of Southern Africa says the improvement in sales of construction and building materials is encouraging amid the challenging environment.
Within the Metals and Engineering (M&E) sector, the increase in the sale of construction and building material was driven mainly by the increase in the demand for building supplies across all segments including nonferrous metal products, basic iron and steel products, as well as other fabricated metal products.
Chief economist Chifipa Mhango says the figures are a sign that economic recovery in South Africa remains on track, while trading and industrial production activity levels are improving.
However, the prevailing unrest in the country threatens to halt this progress as it has disrupted supply chains across all sectors.
Mhango appeals to government to urgently mobilise all its resources to ensure stability so that economic recovery is not derailed.
“Our revised indications suggest that if the unrest continues further, production and sales of products within the M&E sector will be affected, as road freight transport, which is a core element of input supply, has been massively disrupted, thus negatively affecting the current positive trend in construction and building material sales,” he states.
Comments
Research Reports
Projects
Latest Multimedia
Latest News
Showroom
For over 30 years, Werner South Africa Pumps & Equipment (PTY) LTD has been designing, manufacturing, supplying and maintaining specialist...
VISIT SHOWROOMDeveloped to exceed the latest EN 15964 standards for police breathalysers proving that it will remain accurate and reliable for many years to come.
VISIT SHOWROOM
Press Office
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation
