Page 17 - 2019\20 KZN Top Business Portfolio - EBOOK

The sector is slowly recovering from the severe
droughts experienced over the period 2015 through
2016.
The midlands area between Pietermaritzburg and the
Drakensberg has a concentration of vegetable, dairy
and stock-farms.
The coastal belt yields bananas, mangoes, pineapples
and other tropical fruit. The KwaZulu-Natal coastal
regions are also fast establishing themselves as the
best in the world to grow macadamia trees with
much potential for growth in the macadamia nut
industry.
Forestry in the areas around Vryheid, Eshowe,
Richmond, Harding and Ngome is another major
source of income, the largest forest owners being
Sappi and Mondi.
� Photo courtesy of Belgotex The KwaZulu-Natal sugar industry is an important
contributor to the economy, which is characterised by
services, infrastructure development and construction, high employment and linkages with major suppliers,
transport storage and communications, tourism, mining support industries and customers. Tongaat Hulett and
and beneficiation as well as wholesale and retail trade. Illovo Sugar South Africa are the major sugar producers.
In terms of contribution to GDP, these are:
The agricultural sector is a catalyst in creating down-
� Manufacturing 22% stream business and employment opportunities within
� Finance, Real Estate and Business Services 20% several manufacturing sectors such as food, beverages
� Wholesale and Retail Trade, Catering and and wood and paper industries that are very important
Accommodation 15% for the provincial economy through employment and
� Transport, Storage and Communications 14% export activities.
� Agriculture sector 4%
Inputs into the agricultural production chain that
The provincial economy is driven mainly by the contribute to economic growth, include the local
eThekwini metro and other district municipalities procurement of capital equipment, consumables and
especially those dominated by urban areas. EThekwini services required by the sector.
contributes the most, 61%, which is attributable to
economic activities such as tourism, harbour ports, Agriculture also offers potential for renewable energy
and sugar refinery, among others projects, notably those that use biomass (sugar and
forestry industries).
Unemployment remains one of the major constraints
to KwaZulu-Natal’s socio-economic prospects; contri- Mining and Beneficiation
buting to high levels of poverty and inequality and The mining sector is a small economic sector, which
worsening the overall quality of life of the people of contributes less than 2% to KwaZulu-Natal’s GDP
the province. and employs approximately 4000 direct employees,
rising to more than 15000 indirectly. The industry
The following discussion provides a broad overview of
the provincial economy and includes a few examples is concentrated around the mining of coal, titanium
of initiatives planned or underway but is by no means dioxide, zircon, aggregate and other minerals in
exhaustive of all sectors or projects. lesser quantities.
Richards Bay Minerals (RBM) and Tronox are key
Agriculture
companies in this sector. RNB is currently expanding
At 4%, the agriculture sector has a relatively low direct its sand mining operations to Zulti South and expected
contribution to the provincial GDP. However, KwaZulu- to extend the life of the mine to 2037.
Natal produces almost 30% of national agricultural
output and hence contributes significantly to food The South African government is playing a vital role in
security in South Africa. Although the province covers encouraging the growth of entrepreneurs by offering
a small portion of South Africa’s land area, a significant incentives to large mining companies using services
percentage of the country’s small-scale farmers are and products of smaller companies at the upstream
based here. stages of the value chain.
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