SA's bulk exports up 4.8% last year
SA's bulk export volumes rose by 4.8% in 2012 to a record 148.4m tons (Mt)‚ data from the Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA) showed, I-Net Bridge reports.
Bulk exports rose by 6.8% in 2011 after a 9.0% jump in 2010 and were up 9.2% year-on-year (y/y) in the first nine months of 2012 before industrial action in the mining sector curtailed exports.
Exports out of Richards Bay‚ which are mostly coal‚ rose by 5.2% to 80Mt. Exports from Saldanha increased by 4.6% to 55.7Mt‚ while exports out of all other ports increased by 3.4% to 12.6Mt although shipments for the first nine months were up 13.7% y/y.
Over the past ten years SA's bulk exports have increased by 28.2%.
The majority of bulk exports go to China‚ India‚ Japan and South Korea, which use South African coal and iron ore to feed their steel mills and thermal coal power stations.
