KwaZulu-Natal Business 2016-17 edition

SPECIAL FEATURE
In recent months, Samsung Electrics has chosen
the province as the site of a $20-million television
factory, a Chinese company intends establishing a
multi-billion-rand steel plant at Richards Bay and a
pipe-manufacturing concern has put R300-million
into a new plant.
Provincial exports rose to R92-billion in 2013 (up
from R85-billion in 2012) and will have done even
better in 2015 because of the relatively weaker rand.
Steel, iron and aluminium account for nearly a third
of exports, followed by metal products. The third
sector making a big contribution is the automotive
and automotive components sector, with about
18%. Chemicals is the other major export-driver.
In the base-metals and metal products sectors,
giant companies such as BHP Billiton, Hulamin,
Arcelor Mittal and Assmang have a big presence in
the province. Toyota and Bell Equipment play a big
role in the automotive sector, while the Engen Oil
Refinery and dissolving pulp manufacturer Sappi
are amongst other strategically important entities
in the provincial economy.
Sugar, tourism and forestry and paper are the
other important sectors driving growth and employment
in KwaZulu-Natal and these will be referred to
again later in this article.
The King Shaka International Airport (with its
own trade port and industrial development zone) is
another of the province's logistics key points which
has the potential to boost the regional economy in
a number of sectors, particularly agricultural export
and tourism.
The province's other zone is the Richards Bay
Industrial Development Zone (RBIDZ). In his State
of the Province address in February 2016, Premier
Mchunu announced these recent investments:
titanium plant (R4.5-billion); bio-mass plant (R2-
billion); pipe manufacturing plant (R300-million);
paint manufacturing (R16-million); logistics services
(R20-million).
New opportunities
KwaZulu-Natal province has a very long coastline
that stretches from Port Shepstone in the south
to the Kosi Bay Nature Reserve in the north. The
province's contact with the sea has brought obvious
benefits: fishing, fine beaches enjoyed by
millions of tourists, and two great ports located at
Durban and Richards Bay. These ports export vast
quantities of minerals (mostly through Richards
Bay) and manufactured goods (Durban) and serve
as an important conduit for imports of all sorts.
The Richards Bay Coal Terminal exports massive
quantities of coal, while the Port of Durban is the
busiest port in Africa.
However, planners want to massively increase
the economic benefits that the ocean can bring.
An Oceans Economy Review Workshop has come
up with a range of sub-sectors that can help to
grow the provincial economy and invite foreign
direct investment:
• Marine Transport and Manufacturing
• Offshore Oil and Gas Exploration
• Aquaculture
• Marine Protection and Ocean Governance
• Small Harbours
• Coastal and Marine Tourism
Strategies to grow the so-called Oceans Economy
will easily dovetail with any and all of the plans to
boost the capacity of the harbours at Durban and
Richards Bay, as well as to explore for gas and oil
in the Indian Ocean.
Ship-building and ship repairs is an existing
industry but it is not very big in the province at this
stage. If oil rigs were to start visiting the KZN coastline
on a regular basis then this industry would
grow exponentially.
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