Take-or-pay Coal Penalties To Exxaro – With More To Come

in the offing as a coal stockpile at Medupi stood at 17.6 million tons at the end of November, the utility said.

“Eskom will, thus, incur further take-or-pay penalties if Medupi Power Station cannot burn the minimum contractual volumes.”

Medupi and Kusile are the newest coal-fired facilities owned by Eskom, but delays and defects at the plants have stifled their nearly 9,600 megawatts of combined capacity, leaving the nation more vulnerable to power outages, said Bloomberg.

Eskom also reported that negotiations for Kusile’s coal supply with Seriti Resources are advancing and the parties agreed to a three-year supply deal as they work on a decade-long contract, said the newswire.

Theoretically, Eskom has about 45,000MW in capacity but just over 20,000MW are out of action owing to breakdowns in its fleet, predominantly coal-fired. It normally supplements coal fired power with electricity from diesel-fired open cycle gas turbines but a shortage of funds means it has limited amounts of the fuel.

News24 said earlier this week Eskom is seeking about R5.9bn in diesel rebates and needs R7.5bn in funds to procure enough diesel to operate its open cycle gas turbines that would stave off higher loadshedding stages until March 30.

Fizzy drinks are a popular beverage choice in SouthAfrica, but health concerns regarding their sugar content and the implementation of the health promotion levy (HPL) have changed the soft drink industry in the country

There are dozens of different types and flavours of fizzy drinks to be found in SouthAfrica, and the country has a strong culture of socializing, with many events and gatherings taking place at which soft drinks are consumed.

According to Statistica, as of 2023, the SouthAfrican soft drinks market is worth $3.26 billion (R56.3 billion). By 2027, 11% of spending and 3% of volume consumption in the soft drinks segment will be attributable to out-of-home consumption (bars and restaurants).

However, due to its popularity and the addictive nature and effects sugar has on individuals, fizzy drinks came under fire in SouthAfrica with the implementation of the health promotion levy (HPL) in 2018.

The tax, colloquially known as the “sugar tax”, was an attempt by the SouthAfrican government to address the country’s runaway diabetes epidemic and the high rates of obesity that fuel it.

According to the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) latest statistics, more than a quarter of SouthAfricans are obese. In 2018, diabetes was the secondlargest cause of death among SouthAfricans after tuberculosis. However, the implemented tax and increasingly health-conscious SouthAfrican consumers have impacted the soft drink market.

Currently, the sugar tax is charged on non-alcoholic sugary beverages with more than 4g of sugar content per 100 ml – which works out to about 10% of the cost per litre of sugary drinks.

This pushed producers to cut the sugar in their soft drinks to avoid the tax and hand off the price increases to consumers by hiking retail prices.The combination of the two has cut sugar intake in the country by nearly a third.

The first scientific evaluation on the impact of the tax in South Africa, conducted in 2019, showed that consumers were already buying 28% fewer sugary drinks.This has likely changed even further in 2023, as many consumers opt for low-sugar or sugar-free options or switch to healthier alternatives.

BusinessTech looked at over 50 fizzy drinks available in South Africa to see precisely how much sugar is contained in each serving (per 100 ml).

We found that 36 fizzy drinks in the country have a sugar content above the government’s threshold of 4g per 100 ml, while 23 have adjusted in sugar content to be under the threshold or slightly above.

Surprisingly, the sugar king of fizzy drinks is Woolworths’ Passionade sparkling fruit drink, with 13.4g of sugar per 100 ml.

This is then followed by Schweppes’Dry Lemon, White Graptiser, Woolworths’Ginger Beer, and Red Grapetiser in fifth. Each with 12.8, 12.5, and 12.3, respectively.

On the other end of the spectrum, Coca-Cola has done a fair bit in reducing its sugar contents, as it holds the most spots with the least amount of sugar per 100ml.

Sprite has the least, with only 3.1g per 100 ml; its Fanta

Passion fruit is second with 3.4; and Sparletta Iron BrewandTwist Granadilla is tied in third with 3.5g per 100 ml.

Twist Lemon, Coca-Cola’s Fanta Orange, Fanta Grape, Sparletta Sparberry, Pine Nut, andApple Rush are tied for fifth place – with a sugar content of 3.6g per 100 ml.

The table below shows all the fizzy drinks we looked at and their respective sugar contents.The drinks are listed in descending order based on sugar content per 100 ml.

Brand Soft Drink Sugar content (g)

Woolworths Passionade 13.4

Schweppes Dry Lemon 12.8

Appletiser White Grapetiser 12.5

Woolworths Ginger Beer