Johannesburg - South Africa’s industrial policy will focus on platinum group metal (PGM) beneficiation, oil and gas from shale and neighbouring countries like Mozambique, and the manufacture of electric cars, Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies said on Thursday.
These key areas will be the focus for the next three years, he said at the launch of the seventh edition of the plan in Johannesburg, adding that such industrialisation was key to driving economic growth. He said South Africa aimed to achieve 5 percent growth by 2019.
Davies the mineral beneficiation plan for PGMs would be for use in fuel cell technology and for the manufacture of catalytic converters which are mostly used in European vehicles that have to comply with strict emission controls.
In the 84 quarters to the end of 2014, growth of 5 percent had been achieved in 16 of these quarters, he said. This growth was driven by high commodity prices and by consumption, which was import intensive. But he added that times were changing, with demand for commodities from China falling as quantitative easing ceases and slows consumer demand.
ANA