South Africa: PPC has forecast a drop in its cement sales volumes during the 2023 financial year, which will end on 31 March 2023. It says that its South African sales will drop by 4%, and its Botswanan sales by 7%. In the first half of the financial year, sales dropped by 2.6% year-on-year. PPC now says that disruptions at South African ports will likely limit the decline in its sales volumes in its home country by reducing competition from imports. South Africa imported 30% of cement consumed during the 2022 financial year, however congestion at ports and currency effects have kept this figure from rising throughout the present financial year.
PPC's CEO Roland van Wijnen said "Rising input costs and the objective of maintaining our market share continue to cause margin pressure." The group now expects to reduce its debt by 28 - 33% to US$39.5 - 42.2m in the 2023 financial year.