in brief in the news By David McKay
MINING
Covid-19: Complex consequences for commodity markets
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Photos: www.pwc.co.za I Archive I miningmx.com
A global drive to de-risk supply chains away from China, combined with the re-emergence of trade tariffs, could favour the local manufacturing businesses. But it could hurt SA’s mining exports. ocalisation in South Africa’s mining sector is a controversial subject. The government has increasingly asked for it, making procurement from local firms a feature of legislation, most notably in Mining Charter III. As the Mining Charter currently stands, about 70% of all procurement by SA firms must be local in three years’ time to comply with mining licence regulations. The government goes so far as to prescribe the level of empowerment required of suppliers. The mining sector said it recognises the benefits of localisation, but says the targets are too onerous. That’s where the matter stands while the government and the Minerals Council await the outcome of a High Court process which is primarily focused on deciding whether past empowerment efforts should be recognised. But could global economic trends fall increasingly in the government’s favour? In a global economy after the Covid-19 pandemic that might be possible, according to PwC, the consultancy. Commenting in Mine 2020, an annual publication that spots trends in the mining sector by monitoring the activities of the world’s top 40 firms, PwC said the sector may have to rethink long-held assumptions about the unassailable wisdom of ultra-lean principles and global supply chains. “Miners may need to think about de-risking critical supply chains and investing more in local communities. A shift towards localisation in supply chains and in deals, as well as different forms of community engagement, may turn out to be enduring consequences of the pandemic,” it said. PwC’s observation is partly to do with how Covid-19 might accelerate an already existing swing towards bilateralism as demonstrated in trade politics. The re-emergence of trade tariffs is the direct result of heightened political tensions between China and the US over the last two years. Bilateralism is also demonstrated in the US government’s withdrawal from the World Health Organization and extends to practices
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finweek 25 June 2020
such as nations relocating data within national borders. In other cases, manufacturers are being forced to consider moving manufacturing facilities from tariffed countries to regional bases, also called ‘onshore’. According to the World Bank in its April edition of the bi-annual World Commodities Report, the unravelling of global value chains (GVCs) would be exacerbated by national security concerns regarding the reliability of supply of critical equipment, such as personal protective equipment which would favour local production. “For commodity markets, such a development could potentially lower transport demand if it reduces [the] average distance of imports,” said the report’s authors. “All else equal, this would result in permanently lower oil demand as GVCs are more transport-intensive than other forms of trade,” the bank said. “It could also lead to shifts in the source of commodity demand as manufacturing hubs shift.” In one interesting interpretation of the potential impact of tariff changes, the French economist Thomas Piketty observed that while tariffs are generally feared (because where do they stop?), they might be the only way the world economy pays for the common threat of greenhouse gas emissions. In any event, even a degree of de-globalisation may start to change the game for the mining sector, which relies on international trade flows to sell products, and to procure goods and services. “There is a visible impact for mines where there’s a just-in-time approach to securing stock,” says Andries Rossouw, resources team leader for PwC. “The industry is used to buying cheap goods from China, and in not having to buy back-up supplies,” he said in an interview with finweek. He thinks mining firms will have to diversify their supply risks. They have already had a taste of what might be coming with the most recent Covid-19-related lockdowns, especially if trade flows are interrupted by tariffs, international tensions and flaring virus threats in the future.
Andries Rossouw PwC resources team leader
As the Mining Charter currently stands, about
70% of all procurement by SA firms must be local in three years’ time to comply with mining licence regulations.
Henk Langenhoven Chief economist of the Minerals Council
www.fin24.com/finweek
