Polymers industry ‘priority’ for South Africa government

JOHANNESBURG (ICIS)–The development of the polymers industry has been identified as a priority for South Africa as the local industry has not realised its full potential, an official with a South African development agency said on Wednesday.

Among the challenges to grow the plastics industry in the country is the availability of skills, financing cost and the difficulty to compete with imports, said Hilton Lazarus, head of chemicals and allied industries at Industrial Development Corporation (IDC), a state-owned development finance institution.

He said South Africa’s plastics industry comprises 1,650 companies with a turnover of rand (R) 50bn ($4.5bn) in 2013, representing about 1.5% of GDP and approximately 14.3% of the manufacturing sector.

Total investments from the IDC into sector totalled R323m in 2013 and created 345 new jobs, Lazarus said during a presentation at the ICIS African Polymers Conference in Johannesburg, South Africa.

He said the agency plans to invest another R300m in the polymers chain by March 2015, adding that IDC investments into the sector since 2010 have totalled R900m.

In addition to continue building industry capacity, the IDC will focus on identifying opportunities in bio-polymers, import replacement and projects in the rest of Africa, the official told delegates at the two-day event.

The ICIS African polymers conference closed on Wednesday.

($1 = R11.08)