The June and April y/y increases were the only two y/y rises in the first six months of 2016 after declines of 6.1%, 11.7%, 15.7% and 12.2% in May, March, February and January respectively. This followed a 7.3% increase in 2015 to a record annual tonnage of 168 Mt. Despite the June and April y/y increases, total bulk exports are still down 6.2% y/y in the first six months of 2016.
Bulk exports out of Richards Bay, which is mostly coal, rose by 9.2% y/y in June to 6.9 Mt after growing by 8.2% in 2015 to 93 Mt. As Richards Bay Coal Terminal (RBCT) no longer releases operational statistics, economists are finding it more difficult to track economic performance in SA in a timeous manner.
Despite the 40% plunge in the iron ore price in 2015, bulk exports out of Saldanha, which is mostly iron ore, increased by 12.7% in 2015 to 63.4 Mt, but in June 2016 there was a 9.6% y/y fall to 4.7 Mt. If Saldanha exports are excluded, then total bulk exports would have grown by 12.7% y/y in June.
The surprise in the June data was the 39.0% y/y rise in bulk exports from other ports such as Durban to 1,185,481 tons after falling by 19.3% in 2015 to 11.6 Mt.
Source: BDpro
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