Business & Tech News
Gana Refinery Project Breaks Ground: Yesterday saw Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo, attending a ground-breaking ceremony, at the construction site of a 300,000 barrel-per-day oil refinery, in the south-western city of Jomoro, that will turn the West African country into the region’s petroleum producing hub. Ghana, became an oil producer in 2010 with current output around 132,000 bpd of crude oil per day with natural gas output of around 325 million standard cubic feet per day. Phase one of the project, is estimated to cost $12 billion, and will be funded and constructed by a consortium comprising of Touchstone Capital Group Holdings, UIC Energy Ghana, China Wuhan Engineering Co, and China Construction Third Engineering Bureau Co, as reported by Ghana Television.
King of Corn: According to the United States Department of Agriculture, South Africa stands as Africa’s largest corn producer in 2024, with an output of 14 million metric tons, earning it the 11th spot globally. Ethiopia (ranked 14th) and Nigeria (ranked 14th), complete the top 3 corn producing countries in Africa. The US is the world’s No1 ranked corn producer with a 32% share of global corn production. Corn, globally one of the top staple foods and crucial agricultural product, plays a vital role in South Africa’s economy, supporting not only domestic consumption but also the animal feed and export industries.
Google hits Another Legal Battle: The U.S. appeals court yesterday found that Google must face a revived lawsuit by Google Chrome users who had claimed the company collected their personal information without permission, after they chose not to synchronize their browsers with their Google accounts. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco said the lower court judge who dismissed the proposed class action should have assessed whether reasonable Chrome users consented to letting Google collect their data when they browsed online.
African Countries Are Top ChatGPT Users: South Africa and Morocco have been listed among the top countries in the world that use ChatGPT the most, reflecting the growing interest in AI technology across Africa. In Morocco and South Africa, 80% of consumers have heard of ChatGPT. Of those surveyed, 38% in Morocco and 31% in South Africa actively use the AI-driven tool. An earlier report by the IMF ranked both countries among the top 10 in Africa most prepared for AI adoption.
Mining Slump in SA Continues: While Gold has this past few weeks hit several new Record high prices, and has traded well above prices last year in 2024, this has not been able to stop the “deep structural decline” of South Africa’s gold sector according to Minerals Council chief economist Hugo Pienaar. The latest mining production and minerals sales statistics released by Stats SA for the second quarter of 2024 indicates that mining production decreased by 3,5% year-on-year in June 2024.
The largest negative contributors were:
· gold (-12,6% and contributing -1,8 percentage points);
· PGMs (-5,8% and contributing -1,7 percentage points);
· coal (-3,3% and contributing -0,8 of a percentage point); and
· ‘other’ metallic minerals (-21,3% and contributing -0,6 of a percentage point).
In overall terms, real mining production in the second quarter was 8.7% lower than the fourth quarter of 2019.
Market News
Markets: The Dollar is trading at the weaker closing levels seen last night at 1.1130 against the Euro and 1.3030 against the Pound as US bond yields fell below 4% in anticipation of further rate cuts by the Fed. The 2-year yield is now 3.99%, while the 10-year yield is 3.81%. Global equity markets are all trading lower this morning, following a lower close on Wall Street last night as the recent strong rally paused ahead of Powell’s speech on Friday. The Rand had a small drop yesterday with the currency closing at R17.79 after having started the day below the R17.70 level.
Commodities: Gold hit another new record high of $2,531.60 yesterday, driven in part by the sell-off in the Dollar, and some concerns of global geopolitical tensions and global growth concerns. The Gold is currently trading at $2,517 while Platinum is trading at $953.00, and Palladium is trading at $931,50, both slightly up on yesterdays close. Oil prices are trending downwards due to increased global demand concerns. Brent crude is currently trading at $77.13 with WTI trading at $73.07.
Other News Today
Zimbabwe Releases Detainees: Zimbabwe’s ruling party, ZANU_PF, acknowledged that more than 100 activists were detained to keep them from protesting during a Southern Africa Development Community summit held over the past weekend. Human rights organizations reacted with frustration and anger on Tuesday after Authorities said they will start to release those who were detained now that the meeting is over. Speaking with journalists in Harare, ruling ZANU-PF spokesperson Christopher Mutsvangwa defended detaining the activists, despite global criticism of the actions taken.
Kenyan Serial Killer Suspect Escapes: A suspect, Collins Jumaisi Khalusha, who police said had confessed to killing 42 women and was being detained over the discovery of dismembered bodies in Kenya’s capital has escaped from police custody, officials reported on Tuesday. Mohamed Amin, the head of the Directorate of Criminal Investigations, said Khalusha had escaped together with several other inmates who had been arrested as suspected illegal immigrants.
