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News24 Business reports that Eskom has signed an agreement with Samancor Chrome and the Glencore-Merafe Chrome Venture that has effectively halted mass retrenchments at ferrochrome smelters that would have commenced as early as this week.
SA’s ferrochrome sector and the broader smelting industry have been steadily shrinking as power prices have ballooned 900% in recent years. According to the Electricity and Energy Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, this resulted in the closure of 14 smelters and some 350,000 job losses. Industry warned this year that virtually all remaining smelters would soon close, affecting 300 000 jobs, should the government fail to intervene. Samancor warned employees it would have to take drastic action soon, while the Glencore-Merafe Chrome Venture has already initiated a retrenchment process.
The agreement, which was announced by Eskom on Monday, was reached after urgent talks between the smelter owners and Ramokgopa. It sets in motion a three-month process to design a sustainable electricity pricing solution aimed at stabilising SA’s embattled ferrochrome sector. The agreement establishes a joint multi-stakeholder task team which “will prioritise developing an intervention that supports industrial competitiveness while ensuring that electricity pricing solutions do not impose additional burdens on other customers.”
Meanwhile, the application for interim power tariff adjustments for the smelters, if approved by the the National Energy Regulator of SA, will effectively suspend any retrenchment processes and will see some 40% of idled ferrochrome smelting capacity brought back online.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Lisa Steyn at News24 Business (subscription / trial registration required)
- Read too, Eskom throws ferrochrome producers a lifeline, at BusinessDay
Get other news reports at the SA LabourNews home page