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Glass and non-metallic mineral products (Q3 2015)

  • Sector: Glass and non-metallic mineral products
  • Quarter: Third
  • Year: 2015

The industry produces a range of building products and ceramics as well as glass. It contributed 3,1% of total manufacturing production in the third quarter of 2015, down from 3,4% in the third quarter of 2013 and 3,6% in the third quarter of 2010. The industry reported growing exports, however, which may have reflected at least in part an effort to compensate for weak local demand and rising imports.

Production in the industry fell by almost 7% from third quarter 2013 to third quarter 2015, compared to an increase of 5,3% from the third quarter of 2010 to the third quarter of 2013. From the second to the third quarter of 2015, however, production rose by 0,4%.

Employment was 105 000 in the third quarter of 2015, virtually unchanged from five years earlier. Employment in glass and non-metallic mineral production reportedly fell from 120 000 in the second quarter of 2015, but this apparently reflected an increase in the second quarter compared to the first rather than a longer-term decline.

Capacity utilisation rose in the past quarter, from 79,2% in the second quarter of 2015 to 79,7% in the third quarter. It had been 87,5% two years earlier, in the third quarter of 2013.

Exports of glass and related prodcuts came to 1% of total manufacturing exports in the third quarter of 2015, virtually the same as two years earlier. They accounted for around 11% of total production of the industry in the third quarter of 2015, compared to 8% two years earlier. In dollar terms, exports by the industry came to US$117 million in the third quarter of 2015, from US$90 million two years earlier. Compared to the second quarter of 2015, however, they had dropped from US$126 million. In rand terms, they climbed from R0,9 billion in the third quarter of 2013 to R1,5 billion in the second quarter of 2015, and remained almost unchanged through the third quarter.

Imports of glass and non-metallic mineral products came to 2% of all manufactured imports in the third quarter of 2015, compared to 1% in the third quarter of 2013. They equalled about 23% of local production in the third quarter of 2015, up from 24% in the third quarter of 2013. In rand terms, they had risen from R2,8 billion in 2013 to R3,4 billion in the third quarter of 2015.