Major International Business Headlines Brief::: 29 March 2022

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Major International Business Headlines Brief::: 29 March 2022 

 


 

 


 <https://www.nedbank.co.zw/> 

 


 

 


ü  P&O: Second ferry detained over safety concerns

ü  Energy strategy delayed amid Treasury concerns over costs

ü  Ukraine crisis: Why India is buying more Russian oil

ü  Amazon union election: Will this former worker make history?

ü  Can the super-rich solve America's budget problem?

ü  Nigeria: Foreign Investments - Nigeria Loses to Other African Countries
in Oil, Gas

ü  Nigeria's Economy No Longer Dependent On Oil Revenues - Kyari

ü  Nigeria: Food Security - WTO Warns Against Trade Restriction, Slashed
Global Growth Forecast to 2.5 Percent

ü  Rwanda: Neighborhoods Look to Innovative Approaches to Unpaved Roads

ü  Nigeria Railway Corporation Confirms Attack On Abuja-Kaduna Train

ü  Ghana: Govt Reopens Borders to Bolster Economy

ü  South Africa: In-Depth - SA Company Gearing Up to Make API

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 <mailto:info at bulls.co.zw> 

 


 

 

P&O: Second ferry detained over safety concerns

A second P&O ferry has failed a safety inspection and been detained, the
Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) has said.

 

The Pride of Kent is one of eight ships to need inspections before
re-entering service, after 800 staff were sacked.

 

The firm replaced staff with agency workers paid less than the minimum wage,
but the government says it has prepared measures to block P&O's plans.

 

On Friday, another P&O ferry was held after being declared "unfit to sail".

 

The MCA was inspecting the Pride of Kent to make sure it was safe to go to
sea without passengers or cargo.

 

A spokesperson for the agency said: "Our surveyors are in the process of
detaining the Pride of Kent. We are awaiting confirmation of all the
detainable items."

 

P&O Ferries did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

 

Another P&O Ferries vessel, the European Causeway, failed an MCA Port State
Control inspection last week.

 

The ferry was detained in Larne over "failures on crew familiarisation,
vessel documentation and crew training".

 

Port State Control is the inspection of foreign ships in national ports, to
check that the condition of the ship and its equipment comply with the
requirements of international rules - including emergency procedures such as
firefighting and evacuating the ship.

 

The RMT union said: "It's rare enough for the MCA to impound a ferry but P&O
have now had two in a week after the jobs carve-up which speaks volumes
about the dire state of their operation".

 

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps tweeted that "safety would not be
compromised".

 

P&O Ferries prompted outrage on 17 March when it announced that it would be
replacing staff immediately with agency workers paid less than the UK
minimum wage.

 

At the weekend, unions held protests at ports in Dover, Hull and Liverpool.

 

On Monday, Mr Shapps said the company's boss had been given "one final
opportunity" to re-employ sacked staff on their previous salaries.

 

In a letter to Peter Hebblethwaite, he again urged him to reverse his
decision to sack 800 seafarers.

 

If not, he said the government's plans to make it illegal for ferry firms to
pay less than the minimum wage, would be likely to force him to do so.

 

P&O Ferries initially informed the government its services would be
suspended for approximately 7-10 days.

 

Eleven days on from the shock sackings announcement, most of the company's
ferries are still going nowhere.

 

The business said at the time it would lose £1m for every day services were
not running.

 

After the European Causeway was detained, P&O Ferries said it would make any
changes required and continue to work closely with the MCA to return the
ship to service.

 

But the failure of two vessels to pass safety inspections must surely cast
some doubt on the prospect of currently suspended routes resuming quickly,
under their new crewing arrangements.

 

Other ferry operators were ramping up services in anticipation of growing
passenger demand for Easter and summer travel, now Covid restrictions have
eased.

 

They're taking a lot more bookings than normal, and increasing capacity
where possible to try to keep traffic flowing.

 

line

P&O Ferries said sacking workers was not just about saving money on wages.

 

"The predicted savings we announced are not solely coming from the reduction
in wages, but from removing job duplication and the benefits we will see
from increased flexibility," it said.

 

It said it would welcome the minimum wage rising for all seafaring workers
because it would create "a level playing field when it comes to pay and
conditions on British ferry routes".

 

Ministers plan to force all ferry companies operating from UK ports to pay
at least the national minimum wage, in an attempt to persuade P&O Ferries to
reinstate the workers it sacked.

 

The UK minimum wage is £8.91 per hour for workers over 23. The average rate
paid to the agency staff brought in by P&O Ferries would be £5.50, which is
in line with international maritime standards.

 

Efforts to change the law will begin on Wednesday or Thursday.--BBC

 

 

 

Energy strategy delayed amid Treasury concerns over costs

The government's new energy supply strategy has been delayed, after reports
the Treasury resisted some of the costs involved.

 

Boris Johnson promised the plan in "days" on 9 March to help tackle energy
prices and reduce reliance on Russia.

 

But the date has been pushed back, with a Downing Street spokesman saying
the energy strategy would not be released this week as expected.

 

The plan will outline a range of ways to produce more energy in the UK.

 

It is thought to include strategies for nuclear energy and renewable energy,
plans to make homes more energy efficient and a route to increasing North
Sea oil and gas production.

 

But a source told the BBC that the Treasury had raised concerns about the
long-term cost implications of a target Mr Johnson had outlined - producing
25% of the UK's energy through nuclear by 2050 - as nuclear power plants are
extremely expensive to build.

 

 

And sources close to the work said it was the primary area holding the
strategy up.

 

Asked during a committee hearing on Monday if he was blocking the strategy,
Chancellor Rishi Sunak denied it, saying: "I am certainly not blocking
anything, the prime minister continues to work through the details of that.

 

"Given how important it is, I think it is important we get it right... and
it is being worked out at pace between all the relevant ministers."

 

The BBC understands there are split opinions over other elements of the
strategy, as well as nuclear.

 

Some ministers and Tory MPs had pushed for the government to re-examine
fracking, but it is not expected to play a significant role.

 

The government's moratorium on fracking will remain in place unless they
believe the science has changed and it is deemed safe.

 

Cabinet ministers are also split on whether planning laws in England should
be reviewed to make it easier to approve new onshore wind farms.

 

Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng and Levelling Up Minister Michael Gove are
in favour, but some other cabinet ministers remain opposed.

 

Because some of the targets set out in the strategy will be years - even
decades - away, the cost of them would fall outside the current Spending
Review period.

 

It's understood that commitment to longer-term funding at future spending
reviews is one of the complications that has led to delay.

 

Onshore and offshore wind

It is also understood the strategy will outline community benefits and
incentives for renewable energy sources, including onshore wind.

 

An idea being considered by ministers is making energy bills cheaper
depending how close people live to an onshore wind farm.

 

The PM's official spokesman confirmed the further delay to the strategy on
Monday, but said it was "a significant piece of work", adding: "It is right
we take the right amount of time to do it.

 

"We will set out plans for publication as soon as possible."

 

Meanwhile, the UK is facing a legal challenge from the EU for what it
claimed to be "discriminatory" practices in the offshore wind sector.

 

In what is thought to be the first post-Brexit case between the two sides at
the World Trade Organisation, the bloc said the criteria used by the UK
government in awarding subsidies for offshore wind energy projects "favour
UK over imported content".

 

A statement added: "The EU has raised its concerns with the UK on several
occasions, but to no avail.

 

"The EU is, therefore, bringing the matter to the WTO and hopes that it can
be resolved swiftly."

 

But a Whitehall source criticised the move, saying the supply chain policy
in operation was similar to many schemes in the EU.

 

They added: "At a time when the West should be united in defeating Putin,
this act of envy by Brussels is ill-judged and ill-timed.

 

"We should be working together to strengthen European clean energy security,
not fighting this out in court."

 

The source added that Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng had asked officials
to "rigorously contest the EU's challenge".-BBC

 

 

 

Ukraine crisis: Why India is buying more Russian oil

Russia is seeking new markets for its oil exports as Western sanctions
tighten - and India has been taking advantage of discounted prices to ramp
up imports from the country.

 

The US has said that although these oil imports do not violate sanctions,
"support for Russia...is support for an invasion that obviously is having a
devastating impact".

 

Where does India get its oil?

After the US and China, India is the world's third-largest consumer of oil,
over 80% of which is imported.

 

In 2021, India bought about 12 million barrels of oil from Russia, only 2%
of its total imports.

 

By far the largest supplies last year came from the Middle East, with
significant quantities also from the US and Nigeria.

 

Bar chart showing top countries supplying oil to India

In January and February, India didn't import any oil from Russia.

 

But contracts for March and April have already reached six million barrels,
according to data compiled by Kpler, a commodities research group.

 

The Indian government says even if it buys more oil from Russia, it would
"still be a drop, literally a drop, in a larger bucket" of its oil imports
globally.

 

Chart on imports of Russian Crude oil into India

What's the deal India is getting?

Following its invasion of Ukraine, there are now fewer buyers for Russia's
Ural crude oil, and its price has fallen.

 

"While we don't know the exact price that India is paying, the Urals
discount to Brent crude [the global benchmark] in the last week has widened
to about $30 per barrel," says Matt Smith, an analyst at Kpler.

 

These two types of crude normally sell at a similar price.

 

But at one point in March, as the price of Urals continued to drop, the
difference between them reached an all-time record, he adds.

 

So "India and China are likely to purchase at least some of this [Russian]
crude at a significant discount," he says.

 

India's big refining companies are facing a challenge trying to finance
these discounted purchases, because of sanctions on Russian banks.

 

It's a problem facing trade in both directions.

 

Financial analysts Bloomberg estimate that Indian exporters to Russia are
currently awaiting payments equivalent to about $500m (£381.5m).

 

One of the options India is looking at is a transaction system based on
local currencies, where Indian exporters to Russia get paid in roubles
instead of dollars or euros.

 

Where else is India looking to buy oil?

India's oil imports from the US have gone up significantly since February,
according to analysts at Refinitiv.

 

However, market analysts say this may not be sustainable in the future as
the US seeks to use its domestic oil production to replace supplies from
Russia after its invasion of Ukraine.

 

There are also suggestions that trade with Iran could resume under a barter
mechanism which Indian oil refiners could use to buy its oil. This
arrangement stopped three years ago, when the US reimposed sanctions on
Iran.

 

But this is unlikely to resume without a wider deal reached in international
negotiations with Iran over its nuclear programme.-BBC

 

 

 

Amazon union election: Will this former worker make history?

When former Amazon worker Chris Smalls organised a small protest outside a
massive Amazon warehouse in New York two years ago, he didn't intend to pick
a years-long fight with one of the world's largest companies. He just wanted
his team to be able to do their jobs safely.

 

"When the pandemic came, employees underneath me were getting sick," he
says. "I realised that something was wrong."

 

Amazon fired him, citing quarantine violations. But his concerns caught the
world's attention - an early sign of a much bigger labour battle brewing at
the e-commerce giant.

 

In the following months, as its business surged thanks to the pandemic,
Amazon faced accusations around the world that it neglected staff welfare -
claims it denied.

 

In the US, the company now faces its most serious labour unrest in decades.

 

After walkouts and protests across the country, workers at three warehouses
in New York and Alabama are deciding whether to join a labour union - which
would be a first for Amazon in the US.

 

 

Mr Smalls is one of the leaders in the fight.

 

He says he's embracing a role the shopping giant set out in a leaked memo
from 2020, which described Mr Smalls as "not smart or articulate" and argued
that if he became "the face of the entire union/organising movement" it
would help to undermine it.

 

Mr Smalls, who worked at Amazon for more than four years, starting as an
entry-level worker before getting promoted, said he was blindsided by the
memo, which some saw as racist, though Amazon told reporters at the time the
author wasn't aware Mr Smalls was black.

 

"My whole life changed in one minute," the father-of-two says. "From there,
I started to pretty much try to make them eat their words."

 

Former Amazon employee, Christian Smalls, stands with fellow demonstrators
during a protest outside of an Amazon warehouse as the outbreak of the
coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues in the Staten Island borough of New
York U.S., May 1, 2020.

 

 

For 11 months, the 33-year-old and his team have staked out a spot opposite
his former workplace, the JFK8 warehouse on Staten Island, intercepting
staff on their way home to make the case that they need a union to fight for
them in negotiations with the e-commerce giant.

 

His team are seeking higher pay, longer breaks, more paid time off and paid
medical leave, among other changes. They want to convince workers that a
union will be a more effective way to raise complaints over rules like one
that requires staff to work unscheduled overtime shifts.

 

Voting on the question began 25 March and the result will be announced in
coming days. Amazon faces a second election at a smaller warehouse in the
same industrial park next month.

 

Organisers say the stakes are nothing short of the future of the American
worker, pointing to Amazon's rank as the second largest employer in the US.

 

"We need to take down Amazon. We need these workers to organise," says
Derrick Palmer, who helped Mr Smalls organise his 2020 protest and was also
disciplined (but not fired) by Amazon, which cited social distancing
violations. "We need them to know they have the power."

 

Revival of US unions?

Amazon saw off a similar unionisation effort in Alabama last year,
convincing workers to vote 2-1 against the idea.

 

The vote - the first the company had faced in the US since it was founded in
1994 - looked decisive. But regulators later called for a re-run, saying
Amazon had violated rules that protect the right to organise during the
campaign.

 

Officials started counting the results of that vote on 28 March.

 

John Logan, professor of labour and employment studies at San Francisco
State University, says it's remarkable that activists have even got to the
point of an election, given how much American laws favour employers.

 

Last year, union membership in the US sank again, continuing a decades-long
decline despite a surge of activism leading to successful campaigns at
Starbucks, media outlets and some smaller retailers.

 

"Something has definitely changed in the last two years, when it comes to
the labour landscape in the United States, and... the Amazon union votes are
a reflection of that change," Prof Logan says.

 

"It would be a monumental event if either of the unions [in New York] were
to win. But even if they were to lose, if the results are close I still
think it will result in more union activity at Amazon warehouses across the
country."

 

'Earth's best employer'?

Last year, in the aftermath of the Alabama election, Amazon founder Jeff
Bezos pledged that the company would do better by its workers, including
addressing the firm's high injury rate.

 

"Despite what we've accomplished, it's clear to me that we need a better
vision for our employees' success," he wrote in his final letter to
shareholders before stepping down as chief executive.

 

Amazon - which US regulators have accused of retaliating illegally against
labour organisers on their staff - remains staunchly anti-union.

 

The firm says it offers competitive pay and benefits and a union will only
add a new layer of bureaucracy, while membership fees eat into workers'
wages.

 

To fight the campaigns, the firm has inundated staff with texts, fliers and
other materials and held repeated mandatory training meetings about the
issue, where they cast doubt on the union's ability to secure improvements
for its members.

 

"Our employees have the choice of whether or not to join a union," says
spokeswoman Kelly Nantel. "As a company we don't think unions are the best
answer for our employees. Our focus remains on working directly with our
team to continue making Amazon a great place to work."

 

Amazon has been urging workers to vote, warning that if the election is
dominated by pro-union forces and the union emerges victorious, it will
represent everyone at the warehouses in question.

 

"Negotiations are always a give and take," an Amazon representative warns in
audio of a meeting in New York supplied by organisers. "What's important to
the [Amazon Labor Union] may not be important to you. They will be willing
to trade your priorities for one of theirs."

 

A union victory in New York is far from assured.

 

People affiliated with RWDSU (Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union)
hold signs supporting unionization in front of an Amazon facility on the
first day of the unionization vote in Bessemer, Alabama, U.S., February 4,
2022

 

 

Leroy Hairston, 22, who has worked at the JFK8 warehouse in New York for
about two months - not unusual at a place with high turnover - tells the BBC
he is leaning against the union. He thinks it is inexperienced and would
struggle to make changes, making resolving staff issues more complicated,

 

"I don't see the point," he says. "Everything is prolonged instead of just
going to HR."

 

Mr Smalls says he is hopeful that New York - where one in five workers
belong to a union - offers better conditions for victory than Alabama, a
notoriously anti-union state.

 

He also has contacts in more than a dozen other warehouses around the
country that he hopes to unionise should he prove victorious.

 

"Once we get established here, we want to spread like wildfire," Mr Smalls
says.

 

Over the last month, Amazon Labor Union volunteers have made a concerted
final push to convince undecided workers.

 

Julian Mitchell-Israel, a 22-year-old community activist who took a job with
Amazon to join the union effort, estimates their odds of winning at just
over 50%.

 

At a blustery cold rally in the Staten Island industrial park this month, Mr
Smalls, in a red hoodie and trainers, seemed undaunted. Surrounded by
workers, union activists and politicians he led the small crowd in a chant
of: "We will win! We will win!"

 

Mickie Garson, 50, who has worked at Amazon for three years and drove in on
her day off to hear the union make its pitch, surveyed the scene from the
Amazon parking lot, divided from the speakers by several lanes of traffic.

 

She said she remained "on the fence" despite experience at previous jobs
that made her confident a unionised workplace would be better.

 

"It's the pressure of knowing that we could make history," she says. "We're
excited with the fact that it could happen but also, then what happens after
that?"-BBC

 

 

 

Can the super-rich solve America's budget problem?

A nonagenarian, a father of seven and a high-profile divorcee are among the
Americans who would face a new minimum tax under a proposal in US President
Joe Biden's budget plan.

 

The proposal aims to capture more of the wealth created by the soaring stock
market of the last few years.

 

It targets the roughly 20,000 taxpayers in the US worth more than $100m
(£76m).

 

Investor Warren Buffett, Tesla boss Elon Musk and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos
would be among those affected.

 

Under the proposal, America's 0.01% richest would face a minimum 20% tax on
income. Crucially, it changes rules on calculating income to include gains
from stocks, even if they were not sold by the investor being taxed.

 

"This approach means that the very wealthiest Americans pay taxes as they
go, just like everyone else, and eliminates the inefficient sheltering of
income for decades or generations," the White House said.

 

The idea is the latest in a long list of efforts to raise taxes on the
super-rich and faces long odds in Washington - not to mention opposition
among the class it proposes to target.

 

Millionaires ask to pay more tax

The odd couple blocking Biden's climate agenda

There are about 20,600 people worth more than $100m in the US, according to
estimates by the Boston Consulting Group.

 

The White House said more than half the $360bn raised from the measure over
10 years would come from the country's roughly 700 billionaires.

 

"Eventually they run out of other people's money and then they come for
you," Tesla boss and world's richest man Elon Musk wrote on Twitter last
year about a similar proposal.

 

Under Mr Biden's proposal, Mr Musk - a father of seven who boasts a net
worth of more than $280bn - would have to pay $50bn more in taxes over 10
years than under the current system, according to analysis by Gabriel
Zucman, an economist at the University of California-Berkeley.

 

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos would face an extra $35bn bill, while Warren
Buffett would be on the hook for $26bn.

 

"This is big," Prof Zucman, who has studied billionaire wealth and helped
design a wealth tax proposal for left-wing Senator Elizabeth Warren, wrote
on Twitter.

 

Mr Biden's budget also calls for raising the income tax rate on households
earning over $400,000 from 37% to 39.6% and increasing the tax on companies
to 28%, partially reversing cuts made under the Trump administration.

 

He would also make other reforms to the system for taxing the gains in value
from stocks and property, which would apply beyond the richest Americans.

 

Together the reforms and others in the budget would help reduce the deficit
by $1tn over the next decade, according to the White House.

 

For the 2022 financial year, the annual deficit is projected at more than
$1.2tn. Overall debt passed $30tn last month.

 

Mr Biden has long called for many of the tax changes in this year's budget
to little avail.

 

In Congress, other proposals to raise taxes on the wealthy have met with
little success.

 

Fellow Democrat Joe Manchin, of West Virginia - one of the key of members of
Mr Biden's party who has blocked his wider agenda - last year said that a
similar proposal from Senator Ron Wyden was too complicated and he didn't
"like the connotation that we're targeting different people".

 

Other Democrats have expressed concerns about other similar proposals'
workability and ability to withstand legal challenge.

 

In a briefing for reporters on Monday, Treasury officials said the goal was
to advance the discussions in Washington about how to ensure the rich paid
their fair share.

 

America's 400 richest families have more wealth than all 10 million of the
country's black families combined, according to a 2020 analysis by the
Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank.-BBC

 

 

 

Nigeria: Foreign Investments - Nigeria Loses to Other African Countries in
Oil, Gas

There are indications that foreign investors are sidelining Nigeria's gas
sector as other African countries attracted higher investments in the past
10 years.

 

The Minister of State for Petroleum, Timipre Sylva, told a section of EU
Ambassadors to Nigeria, that out of over $70 billion worth of investments
that entered Africa between 2012 and 2022, only $3.5 billion or five percent
came into Nigeria, despite accounting for 33 percent gas reserve in the
continent.

 

A breakdown of the investments showed that, Tanzania received major chunk in
gas investment of $30 billion, with the country's LNG project located at
Lindi, while Rovuma basin, offshore Mozambique gas development project
received, $4.7 billion.

Ethiopia-Djibouti Gas Pipeline, located at Ogaden Basin, East Ethiopia -
Damerjog, Djibouti, which started in 2020, received $4 billion.

 

Sylva stated: "One of the biggest challenges the sector has is lack of
investments. In the last 10 years, over $70 billion worth of investments
came to Africa, but sadly less than four billion dollars came to Nigeria.

 

"Surprisingly, we are the biggest in Africa. If we cannot attract
investments to Nigeria, you know where we are heading. You have been our
long time friend. As of today, our gas reserve is one of the biggest in the
world. We have a proven gas reserve of 206 tcf and if we really focus on gas
exploitation we can get up to 600 tcf."

 

However, the festering war between Ukraine and Russia which has threatened
gas supply to European countries, may have necessitated a call by Sylva to
the foreign investors to look to Nigeria with more investments, insisting
that Nigeria was ready to step in as an alternative gas supplier to Europe.

Stakeholders react

 

Commenting, the Chief Executive Officer, Oildata Energy Group, Emeka Ene,
said that property rights, enabling environment and opportunity cost, are
the three factors that triggers and attracts investment in any sector or
country.

 

He stated: "The rule of law and property rights are tied together. The
second which is enabling environment, and we have had challenges in the past
regarding security and all the issues associated with producing petroleum
products.

 

"The third one is the opportunity, which we have in abundance, but what you
find out is that the absence of rule of law and property rights makes it
difficult for investors to invest and be able to predict that he will
recover his investment and make profit.

 

"We keep dangling the opportunity, forgetting that investment stands on a
tripod, and without the tripod, no investor is going to come. Investment
money has a female gender, it does not come where it's not welcomed, and we
are now in a more competitive world than we were 20 years ago."

 

Also, a sector governance expert, Michael Uzoigwe, in a chat with Vanguard,
noted that although the Petroleum Industry Act, PIA has been signed, but the
implementation has not started.

 

"Investors investing in any project look out for profitable, and security of
their investment.

 

"Nigeria benefitting less than $4 billion, also refers to the fact that
investors are mindful of the business climate in Nigeria. We believe this
development will be self-addressed with the signing and implementation of
PIA."

 

However, the Ambassadors led by Samuela Isopi, urged the Nigerian government
to take advantage of the opportunity offered by the present crisis in Europe
to shore up gas supplies to Europe.

 

She also stated: "The Nigerian government needs to step up security in the
Niger Delta region to guarantee gas supply to EU member states.

 

"The spate of attacks on Shell, Eno and Total Energies's gas infrastructure
which led to the declaration of force majeure by the companies is of great
concern to Europe.

 

"The recent developments in the Niger Delta is of great concern to
us."-Vanguard.

 

 

 

Nigeria's Economy No Longer Dependent On Oil Revenues - Kyari

The Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company
(NNPC) Limited, Mallam Mele Kyari, yesterday said the Nigerian economy had
weaned itself of total dependence on oil revenues, unlike what was obtained
in the past.

 

Speaking on Day 1 of the Atlantic Council Global Energy Forum in Abu Dhabi,
Kyari, stated that presently, the contribution of the sector to the
country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was just nine per cent.

 

Kyari who elucidated on the need to give Africa special consideration in the
movement away from fossil fuels, maintained that Nigeria was not ready for
Electronic Vehicles (EVs) as it is currently dealing with basic issues of
power supply.

The NNPC GMD argued that while Nigeria believes in the net zero drive and
has already committed to it, it would continue to build on its gas
infrastructure as a buffer before the achievement of the net zero target in
2060.

 

"First of all, let me put it in a general context, our country's GDP
contribution from the oil and gas is just nine per cent. So, we are not
really an oil-dependent economy. Secondly, the US Bureau of Statistics has
estimated that by year 2047, Nigeria's population will be around 379 million
people and will be the third most populous country in the world.

 

"The combination of this is that you have a very rapidly growing population
with a huge gap in terms of energy accessibility and you have a huge
economic disparity between the poor and the rich and this is growing.

 

 

"There is no way you can take the context of energy transition out of this,
but our country is clearly committed to net zero by 2060 to reduce our
carbon footprint in a manner that will contribute to net zero by 2060," he
said.

 

Kyari stressed that while Nigeria was trying to move its dependence on
thermal sources of power to other sources of energy, more than 70 per cent
of energy need was currently coming from the source.

 

"And most of them are not even coming from gas, so most of them are coming
from fuel oil and other dirtier fuels," he said.

 

He added: "What we are going to do is some kind of replacement so that we
will move from the dirtier fuels to cleaner fuels which is gas, and
therefore our focus is to see gas as a transition fuel."

 

According to him, what Nigeria had tried to do in recent years was to build
enormous gas infrastructure to ensure it is able to supply gas to the
domestic market and export to the international market.

 

 

He explained that the energy poverty that Nigeria was confronted with, was
also true of other African countries.

 

"Therefore, we are trying to see how we can build a network of pipelines and
infrastructure that will deliver gas throughout the West African region and
potentially into Europe through Morocco and Algeria.

 

"We are a 306tcf gas nation and this is enough to cover a lot of our needs
in Africa, but our people still use charcoal as cooking fuel and that's the
lowest fuel that you can put forward," he stressed.

 

Lamenting that public transportation was weak in Nigeria, Kyari stated that
the only way to reduce the number of internal combustion engines was to
increase the gas infrastructure and close the gap.

 

He noted that differentiation remains very critical as the world moves
towards 2060, because different countries have peculiar circumstances.

 

Kyari added: "Total lack of investment in this sector will mean some kind of
exclusion for a very large population in Africa and very many other nations.
Therefore, this bandwagon approach to stop funding for fossil fuels won't
work.

 

"This is because, today, we have much more basic problems in Sub-Saharan
Africa than worrying about EVs. We are not in the EVs age and definitely the
electricity supply is still the weakest.

 

"Less than 30 per cent has access to clean electricity and you need to fill
this gap. And there's no way the scale of investment in renewables will do
this. So, the world must sit back and take a second look at this.

 

"Can we differentiate this? Can the cleaner energy come later for some
countries? Can we fund fossil fuels so that resources can be available to
some countries to fund the transition journey itself?

 

"Also, can we segregate and say we want to fund gas in certain countries and
certainly locations so they can provide cleaner, quicker and more practical
fuels? Clearly, there has to be differentiation."

 

In his remarks, the Secretary General of the Organisation of Petroleum
Exporting Countries (OPEC), Dr. Sanusi Barkindo, argued that the role of oil
and gas is guaranteed in the foreseeable future.

 

"The world will continue to acquire all sources of energy. What is required
at the moment is to revisit how we explore and consume hydrocarbons and to
bring them in line with current realities, especially in terms of
sustainability.

 

"The energy trilemma: energy access, affordability and sustainability should
be taken in the holistic manner. Oil and gas, according to our oil outlook,
will continue to account for more than 45 per cent to 50 per cent of the
global energy mix.

 

"This number has not changed in the last 30 to 40 years because population
has been growing rapidly over 3 per cent. we project that potential to grow
till 2045 and the vast majority of that growth will come from developing
countries where energy poverty is already epidemic," he stated.- This Day.

 

 

 

Nigeria: Food Security - WTO Warns Against Trade Restriction, Slashed Global
Growth Forecast to 2.5 Percent

The Director General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Dr. Ngozi
Okonjo-Iweala, has emphasised the important role trade could play to help
member countries head off what appeared to be emerging food crises due to
the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

 

Also a Geneva trade official told journalists yesterday, that global
economic growth original projected by IMF of 4.2 per cent would now see
slower growth somewhere between 3.1 and 3.7 per cent and trade growth could
be cut by half from 4.7 per cent projected in October to 2.5 per cent.

 

Okonjo-Iweala made this statement yesterday during an informal meeting of
the general council of the WTO, and also called for coordinated action to
address the recent sharp rise in commodity prices that threatens food
security in many countries, especially in Africa and the Middle East.

She said: "Trade can help WTO members adjust to, and overcome, the shocks of
events such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the crisis in Ukraine.

 

"Trade has been and will remain a critical means of adaptation to the
mounting global shocks that the world is currently experiencing."

 

She added: "This is not the time to retreat inward ... This is the time to
stress the importance of multilateralism, global solidarity and
cooperation."

 

The director general of WTO observed that COVID-19 crisis and the war
between Ukraine and Russia have raised concerns about the vulnerability of
global supply chains and led to calls in some quarters to re-locate
production and sourcing locally in order to ensure stable supplies of
critical goods and staples.

She, however, underlined that supply resilience "will ultimately be best
served by deeper and more diverse international markets.

 

"Concentrating sourcing and production at home, while understandable, could
also create new vulnerabilities and may not be the best risk management
strategy.

 

"A region's wheat crop could be destroyed by drought, flooding, or other
weather-based phenomena. A harsh winter and an earthquake could knock out
electricity and factory production," she argued.

 

Okonjo-Iweala said that the ongoing Ukraine-Russia war had caused immense
human suffering and loss of life and unleashed an ongoing humanitarian
crisis.

 

"It has also dealt a severe blow to the global economy still recovering from
the impacts of the pandemic and has raised the spectre of food shortages in
countries dependent on Ukraine and Russia for imports of key staples like
wheat. Already in Africa, prices of key commodities have risen by 20-50 per
cent between January and March.

"For dozens of poor countries and tens of millions of people, basic food
security is in danger. These countries already have been some of the slowest
economic recoveries from the pandemic, and international cooperation on
trade is necessary to help mitigate risks of poverty, hunger, even famine
and social unrest," she warned.

 

The Director-General noted that the UN Secretary-General has set up a
three-tiered steering committee involving heads of government, heads of
international organisations and technical experts to deal with the issue of
surging energy and food prices.

 

The WTO was also expected to play a key role in finding solutions to the
food crisis, the Director-General noted.

 

In addition, the chair of the WTO's agriculture negotiations, Ambassador
Gloria Abraham Peralta of Costa Rica, was planning a food security
conference that would take place at the end of April while WTO's secretariat
staff have also been carrying out analysis on food security issues which
would be shared with members shortly.

 

"We at the WTO have a solid basis on which to consider workable solutions to
the present crisis," the director general declared.

 

She highlighted that on the near-term, international cooperation on trade
would be needed to minimise the impact of supply crunches for key
commodities where prices are already high by historical standards and to
keep markets functioning smoothly.

 

While only 12 members have imposed export restrictions on food to date,
coordinated government action is needed to avoid a repeat of the cascading
export restrictions that exacerbated the rise of food prices in the crisis
of 2008-2010.

 

The WTO also urged countries with buffer stocks that could afford to share
could coordinate the release of wheat, barley, other cereals and grains and
oils into international markets, thereby alleviating the supply squeeze.

 

The organisation noted that countries such as the United States, Canada,
Australia, Argentina, and France could increase wheat cultivation while
others such as China, Germany, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Nigeria
could increase global supply of fertilizer.

 

Africa, with plentiful land and other resources, could also take steps to
produce more food itself by using more adaptable varieties of wheat, maize
and other crops, the WTO stated.

 

The DG further noted that trade facilitation measures could also be brought
into play to ease the free flow of goods, while efforts should be made to
allow the UN's World Food Programme full access to humanitarian purchases.

 

"Prompt notification and information sharing regarding food supplies and
stockpiles can help the international community better manage the situation
and keep markets functioning more smoothly," she added.

 

Several members took the floor after the director general's intervention to
indicate support for the suggestions outlined by her.

 

Prior to the director general's statement, the chair of the General Council,
Ambassador Didier Chambovey of Switzerland, provided a readout on his recent
consultations with members on substantive and administrative aspects related
to the WTO's 12th Ministerial Conference (MC12).

 

The consultations took place over the first half of March and involved 42
delegations, including 12 group coordinators and one member group.

 

On the exact dates for the WTO's postponed 12th Ministerial Conference
(MC12), the chair said the emerging understanding is that the conference
would take place from June 12 to 15, 2022, with the meeting taking place
entirely at WTO headquarters.

 

The chair suggested that members should proceed with this working assumption
and precise dates in mind. He noted the desire of members that MC12 be a
streamlined, business-like conference.

 

"WTO members agreed on February 23 that MC12 would take place during the
week of June 13 in Geneva following the easing of COVID-19 pandemic
restrictions in the host country Switzerland. MC12 was due to take place
from 30 November to 3 December 2021 but was postponed due to the outbreak of
the Omicron variant of COVID-19," WTO said.-This Day.

 

 

 

Rwanda: Neighborhoods Look to Innovative Approaches to Unpaved Roads

There is an urgent need to scale up Do-nou technology to repair unpaved
roads that are damaged by heavy rains and occasional floods in the
neighborhoods of Kigali city and other parts of the country, local leaders
and dwellers have recommended.

 

The technology was used over the weekend during Umuganda-community work to
repair different damaged roads across the country.

 

Do-nou is a Japanese Word that means wrapping soil in a gunny bag.

 

Do-nou technology involves use of gunny bags filled appropriately with
murram, sand, gravel or farm soil and tied to repair impassable roads.

The local community in neighborhoods of Kigali during community work to
repair unpaved road using Do-nou technology. Michel Nkurunziza.

 

According to engineers the technology makes use of locally available
materials and purely labour-based technology which is easy to learn,
understand and adapt among the community people.

 

With simple maintenance preferably after every rainy season, the road is
durable, they say.

 

Residents of Kicukiro District where the technology was used on Saturday
said that a number of roads had been damaged by floods in the community and
therefore the technology can be used at the time there is no budget to tar
roads.

 

"There was a big problem of floods damaging the neighborhood roads because
they are not drained. The flooding from the roads has also been damaging
people's houses around. The vehicles were also not crossing because the
damaged roads are impassable," said Theogene Karasanyi, a resident of
Kanombe sector, Kicukiro District.

He added people who need transport services for their different business
activities are facing constraints amidst the heavy rains paralyzing
transport in some parts.

 

"We have the road which is even used by trucks but the road needs
rehabilitation. As the community work returns, we hope that the technology
they have used on repairing one part of the road can be scaled up," added
Josephine Nyirasafari, another resident.

 

Idrissa Nkurunziza, The Executive Secretary of Kanombe Sector said that
there are a number of community roads that are being damaged by floods and
there is need for support to maintain the damaged roads.

 

"Karama was previously looking like a rural area but after settlement sites
were demarcated, many people are coming to live there. But the roads are
impassable for vehicles especially during the rainy season. Therefore Do-nou
technology is timely as an affordable and cheap technology," he said adding
that community works can lower the cost.

Yuko Chiba, a project Manager of the Community Road Empowerment organization
that finances the scaling up of Do-nou technology, said that it is being
used in 11 districts of the country.

 

"The technology uses soil put inside the bags to strengthen and upgrade the
road by compacting. Since 2018 we have covered 11 districts so far. We are
targeting all districts by 2024 and we are training the representatives of
the road maintenance cooperatives and VUP technicians to use the technology
with available local materials," she said.

 

Managing Kigali city's floods

 

While Do-nou technology was used to repair some flooded-damaged neighborhood
roads, The City of Kigali has said it is working on a number of projects to
reduce the impact of floods on roads across the city.

 

The City of Kigali has said that it is conducting studies on six high
critical flooding spots and a storm water management master plan to mitigate
floods in the long-term.

 

Meanwhile, the city officials said that during the forthcoming heavy rainy
season, the city is implementing and mobilizing all citizens to the
short-term solutions of stormwater management to reduce flooding and
disasters caused by heavy rains.

 

The interventions, he said, include regular cleaning of roadside drainage
and storm water channels, desilting at critical flooded spots as well as
excavation of retention ponds to hold extra water and silts during times of
flooding.

 

Other interventions include maintenance of ravines, planting trees and
vegetations to retain soil to prevent landslide, greening alongside of roads
and unprotected areas, expansion of the existing stormwater drainage
structures to increase their conveyance capacity of the rainwater runoff,
retaining walls, gabions walls, stone pitching to prevent land sliding among
others.

 

Drainage rehabilitation is among the most needed interventions to curb
floods in the city.

 

The City needs over Rwf30 Billion funding for rehabilitating and expanding
several drainages that usually cause flooding in the country's capital.

 

Within the last three years, only eight new standalone ravines/drainages
have been constructed, Officials said.

 

Mpazi drainage is one of dangerous drains that was in need of widening to
save Nyabugogo businesses from flood-caused losses.

 

Emmanuel Katabarwa, the City Engineer, On Saturday March 26, said that
building a new road as part of expansion works for Mpazi drainage is
starting this week to control floods it has been causing.

 

"There are two bridges that had to be expanded on the drainages. The works
on the upper bridge will take between two and three months," he said.

 

The City of Kigali has said that the increase in the cost of constructing
two bridges to Rwf7 billion on Mpazi channel in order to tackle flooding in
Nyabugogo commercial area resulted from the abnormally rising rainwater
levels in Kigali occasioned by climate change.

 

Meanwhile he said more drainages are being expanded to control floods.

 

"We have set up flood control facilities in areas of Rwampala, Kanogo,
Kinamba and others," he said.-New Times.

 

 

 

Nigeria Railway Corporation Confirms Attack On Abuja-Kaduna Train

The incident happened between Katari and Rijana train stations, en route
Kaduna from Abuja.

 

Fidet Okhiria, the managing director, Nigeria Railway Corporation (NRC), has
confirmed the attack on the Abuja-Kaduna train by suspected bandits on
Monday night.

 

Mr Okhiria, however, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that "information
concerning the attack was still sketchy, and no concrete information could
be given at the moment.

 

"We have confirmed the attack, but we cannot give you much information right
now.

 

"From the reports we have gotten, most of the passengers have gone into
hiding and the officials on board are yet to give us report of the
situation.

 

"There are reports of gunshots and the train derailed due to the attack," Mr
Okhiria said.

 

NAN gathered that the incident happened between Katari and Rijana train
stations, en route Kaduna from Abuja.-Premium Times.

 

 

 

Ghana: Govt Reopens Borders to Bolster Economy

Accra — Ghana's President Nana Akufo-Addo has lifted more COVID-19
prevention measures, such as wearing masks, and re-opened land and sea
borders that were for the past two years closed to foot traffic. The
loosening of pandemic restrictions has been welcomed as a step forward for
Ghana's economic recovery.

 

Ghana's president on Sunday said masks are no longer required and that all
indoor events can operate at full capacity if participants are vaccinated
against COVID.

 

He said visitors who are fully vaccinated no longer need to present a
negative COVID test, and said foot traffic would resume immediately on all
land and sea borders.

 

Akufo-Addo said the rate of infection has fallen, and that relaxing the
measures will attract more tourists and trade to bolster the pandemic-hit
economy.

 

"It has been a difficult two years for all of us, and we are seeing light at
the end of a very long tunnel. As we lift these restrictions. Now is the
time for all of us to join hands, work hard, and help put our nation back
onto the path of progress and prosperity, as we resume full production and
increase productivity. As your president I assure you, that sooner rather
than later our economy will rebound from the ravages of COVID-19," he said.

 

Akufo-Addo has been under pressure from opposition politicians and traders
to re-open the borders to foot traffic.

 

Daniel Amartey is an economist with the Accra-based Policy Initiative for
Economic Development (PIED).

 

He said reopening the borders will go a long way to inject more capital into
Ghana's economy by creating jobs.

 

"Reopening the borders now is a good news because it will revamp the
economies along the border towns and principally it will help traders in the
capital, Accra and Kumasi. It will also improve living standards. Also,
government revenue at the borders will increase because there will be
movement of goods from Togo to Ghana and Ghana to Togo," said Amartey.

 

Nana Kofi Kwakye is a program manager with the Aurum Institute Ghana. He
notes loosening pandemic restrictions comes with risk.

 

"There should be a greater push for higher vaccination levels. Currently,
the vaccinated population is just about 30% so we just have a long way to go
and we really need to push on that. We also need to push on the
non-pharmaceutical interventions like mask wearing, physical distancing to
make sure that we're maintaining a readiness posture," he said.

 

About a quarter of Ghana's 31 million people have received at least one dose
of the vaccine but only 16% of the population is fully vaccinated.

 

Ghana's health authorities say there is an average of about only 17 new
COVID infections recorded each day.

 

But as the Easter holiday approaches, with large gatherings and movements of
people, the data and science behind the government's decision will be
tested.-VOA.

 

 

 

South Africa: In-Depth - SA Company Gearing Up to Make API

Every medicine you take contains both pharmacologically active and inactive
substances. The active substances, known as active pharmaceutical
ingredients or APIs, are what make your medicines work to fight or prevent
illness. The inactive substances keep them stable, hold them together, and
allow you to swallow them as a pill, capsule, or syrup, or receive them
intravenously through an injection or drip.

 

Regardless of where in the world you are living, where your medicines are
made, or what company they are bought from, they likely contain ingredients
manufactured in China or India--as these countries manufacture and supply
the bulk of the chemical substances used in medicines sold across the world
(although India is also highly dependent on China for medicine APIs).

It is estimated that around 80 percent of the active substances used in
medicines in Europe are produced in China and India. The United States Food
and Drug Administration admits it does not actually have the data to assess
where all the APIs used in medicines sold in the United States come from,
given poor transparency in the supply chain.

 

Like the rest of the world, South Africa is highly dependent on imported
APIs. Buti Manamela, the Deputy Minister of Higher Education, Training,
Science and Innovation, this month said, "South Africa is the largest
procurer of antiretrovirals in the world... and sadly, 100% of the APIs used
to make ARVs are imported."

 

Manamela added, "It, therefore, goes without saying that reliance on the
importation of finished drugs or the API itself not only burdens the country
with a security of supply risk but also results in a significant trade
deficit."

Consolidation in the East

 

The consolidation of API manufacturing in a handful of countries, and
specifically in China and India, took place over the last few decades as
companies around the world sought to reduce their expenditure on APIs.

 

APIs are typically the largest cost contributor in medicine production and,
in the highly competitive generic medicines space, securing the lowest
possible prices for APIs can mean the difference between winning or losing a
lucrative tender.

 

For decades, India and China have been able to offer cheap APIs to medicine
manufacturers, due in large part to low labour costs and less stringent
environmental regulations. But this is now changing, as wages in both
countries are rising and environmental regulations are strengthening. In an
effort to reduce pollution, for example, China has shut down multiple API
producing plants in recent years.

Even before the emergence of COVID-19, security and global health experts
began warning that global dependence on imported medicine APIs from a few
countries posed a critical risk to health and security.

 

Global health organisations that long supported procurement of cheap APIs
from India and China--particularly as the world sought to treat the millions
of people with HIV in need of daily life-saving medicines--began shifting
their rhetoric towards calling for investing in and building medicine and
API manufacturing capacity in more countries and regions around the world to
improve medicine supply security.

 

In what was billed as an important shift towards promoting more localised
medicine production, six influential global agencies - the World Health
Organization, the Global Fund, and four United Nations agencies - pledged in
2019 to collaborate strategically towards strengthening country and regional
level medicine manufacturing capacity.

 

The rapid spread of COVID-19 in 2020 further heightened concerns over the
dependency on China and India. The COVID-19 pandemic led to the closure of
factories producing critical raw ingredients, medicine export bans from
India, and unambiguous country-first nationalist responses to COVID-19.

 

A local contender?

 

Amidst this shifting global landscape, a Pretoria-based company has been
quietly positioning itself to throw its hat into the highly competitive API
space.

 

The company CPT Pharma was established as a subsidiary of Chemical Process
Technologies in 2014. Chemical Process Technologies says it has 21 years of
experience in chemical manufacturing and synthesis, including in producing
APIs for use in animal medicines.

 

The company decided to move into the human APIs space in 2012, with a focus
on developing new, more efficient manufacturing processes to produce these
APIs. By optimising manufacturing processes, the company hopes to get an
edge over its competitors who already have established manufacturing
operations and markets.

 

CPT Pharma appears to have a healthy pipeline of eight APIs in various
stages of development, which it hopes to commercialise in the coming years.
Its current pipeline consists of three APIs used in TB medicines, one API
for an epilepsy medicine, one API for worms treatment, two APIs for HIV
medicines, and one API for a COVID-19 treatment.

 

The manufacturing processes for production of the TB, epilepsy, and worms
treatment APIs in CPT Pharma's pipeline were developed by CPT Pharma itself.
The COVID-19 API (molnupiravir) manufacturing process was obtained through a
licensing and technology transfer arrangement with the Medicines Patent
Pool, and the HIV medicine production technology was transferred to the
company from Medicines for All Institute (M4ALL). M4ALL is funded by the
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to develop novel pharmaceutical
manufacturing processes for open-access sharing. CPT Pharma has been tasked
with further developing the technology transferred from M4All to enable
manufacturing at scale.

 

Getting regulatory approval

 

However, before CPT Pharma can seek regulatory approval to begin selling its
APIs to medicines manufacturers, it must demonstrate that its manufacturing
processes work and are scalable.

 

To test the scalability of manufacturing processes developed at lab level
and the quality of APIs produced at scale using new manufacturing processes,
CPT Pharma built a pilot plant in Waltloo, Pretoria. This pilot plant
received approval to manufacture APIs for use in human medicines from the
South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) in 2020.

 

Hannes Malan, managing director of CPT Pharma explains, "This is a dedicated
pilot plant with reactors that are about one-tenth of the scale of a
commercial plant. The reason we built it as a pilot plant is, first of all,
it's multifunctional. So, we can have different configurations and it also
makes provision for different molecules to be manufactured."

 

CPT Pharma has completed pilot runs on three of the APIs in its pipeline at
its pilot plant and is developing regulatory applications using data from
the pilot runs for submission to SAHPRA to gain approval to start selling
these APIs to medicine manufacturers.

 

The pilot plant was built with investment of around R50 million, jointly
funded by CPT Pharma, the Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa
(IDC), and the Technology Innovation Agency.

 

CPT Pharma is now in talks with investors to raise funds to build a
multi-purpose commercial manufacturing site, with around five to seven
plants each dedicated to production of a different API, as well as an
on-site waste treatment facility. They estimate that building this
multi-purpose manufacturing site will cost between R500 and R700 million.

 

Isoniazid API

 

However, while raising funding for the multi-purpose manufacturing site, CPT
Pharma has also broken ground on a commercial manufacturing site for
production of isoniazid API, which it hopes to have ready for regulatory
assessment in the first quarter of next year. Apart from forming part of the
standard four-drug combination used to treat drug-susceptible TB, isoniazid
is also widely used as TB prevention therapy, alone or paired with a second
drug.

 

"We are putting up the isoniazid plant at the back of the existing pilot
plant... we need to confirm and demonstrate this to the government and to
other people in South Africa that [local API manufacturing] can be done,"
says Malan. "All of our competitors are saying it can't be done, for very
obvious reasons, they are protecting their business and their market. So, we
need to get into the market very soon and we've decided on isoniazid because
it's a reasonable market still in South Africa," he adds.

 

Malan explains that the isoniazid plant may also be used to produce the
COVID-19 API molnupiravir. "The plant that we are building for isoniazid, we
did a quick review, and we can use the same equipment, with a few small
changes in the process to actually manufacture molnupiravir as well," he
says.

 

There is some uncertainty over who CPT Pharma will be able to sell
molnupiravir API. Its license from the Medicines Patent Pool prohibits the
sale of medicines produced with its API into South Africa's private health
sector and the public sector has taken a decision based on current
information not to use the medicine. Hannes notes, however, that CPT Pharma
can sell its API to medicine manufacturers selling molnupiravir in other
countries covered under the MPP licensing deal.

 

Once the isoniazid plant is approved to manufacture APIs and CPT Pharma
receives regulatory approval for its isoniazid API, the company hopes to
corner 60 percent of the domestic isoniazid market.

 

"We've designed the plant to be able to produce enough to capture 60% of the
local market because we know that people will never, you know, only go for a
single supplier," he says. He adds that they will be able to sell it at the
same price that is currently being paid in the open market.

 

Wieda Human, media liaison for the advocacy organisation TB Proof told
Spotlight "TB Proof welcomes the potential that CPT Pharma can bring to
ensuring better access to TB preventative therapy and TB treatment... by
shortening the supply chain and... decreasing reliance on imported
medication."

 

Interest from local producers

 

Derek Maree, Industrial Affairs Manager at Sanofi South Africa, a company
that produces TB medicines in South Africa, says, "There is a market for
locally produced TB APIs in South Africa from a cost and supply reliability
point of view. Sanofi South Africa is open to using CPT's material," says
Maree. "Sanofi South Africa has collaborated with CPT Pharma in lab-scale
stages to develop these APIs. CPT Pharma's material will have to be of the
required quality and be price competitive."

 

Stavros Nicolaou, Senior Executive of Aspen Pharmacare, which also produces
TB medicines locally, says of CPT Pharma's isoniazid API, "The product has
got to be competitive and of the right quality, then, of course, we would
consider it."

 

Nicolaou, however, notes that the lack of protections for local medicine
manufacturers in the Department of Health tenders means a large portion of
the TB medicines used in South Africa are imported from medicines
manufacturers in India and China who are unlikely to use South African
produced APIs.

 

"If CPT is to offer the product of course they must be competitive, but if
the Health Department is not implementing the localisation policy to its
maximum, then you are going to be more and more dependent on imported
product," says Nicolaou. "Generally, when you want to export something, you
usually need to get on domestic volumes first to get the economies of
scale."

 

API Technology Innovation Cluster

 

In addition to developing its own pipeline of APIs, CPT Pharma will also
host the API Technology Innovation Cluster launched this month. The cluster,
a joint initiative of government, academia, and industry, will be located at
CPT Pharma and overseen by Northwest University.

 

Through the cluster, select research projects underway at universities
across the country will be given the opportunity to utilise CPT Pharma's
facilities to develop and pilot novel manufacturing processes for APIs.
According to reporting by Engineering News, the initial projects selected by
the cluster will focus on developing processes to manufacture APIs used in
antiparasitic, antimalarial, and antiretroviral medicines.

 

"Those researchers will eventually end up in our research facility
collaborating with our research team, and then develop a process we can take
into the pilot plant and prove the concept and hopefully end up with a drug
master file," says Malan. He adds that technologies developed through the
cluster "will belong to the person who's developed it, it doesn't belong to
CPT Pharma".

 

'The market is bigger now'

 

While developing domestic API manufacturing capacity is a slow process--it
has been eight years since CPT launched CPT Pharma the company has
methodically positioned itself to develop novel manufacturing processes,
pilot these processes, and eventually commercialise them.

 

Changes in the global landscape since its establishment may mean that, if it
is successful in receiving regulatory approvals to market its APIs, there is
not only domestic and regional but also international demand for its
products.

 

"We actually believe that the market is bigger now since COVID," says Malan.
"People in Europe and the US are concerned about being dependent on China
and India for all sorts of reasons and they [are] always looking for
different suppliers and other suppliers. There's also the opportunity that
if we are competitive, that we can actually export these products," says
Malan, adding, "I honestly believe that if you create the capacity, it will
be filled."-spotlight.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 


 


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INVESTORS DIARY 2022

 


Company

Event

Venue

Date & Time

 


 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 


Companies under Cautionary

 

 

 


 

 

 

 


ART

PPC

 

 


Starafrica

Fidelity

Turnall

 


Medtech

Zimre

Nampak Zimbabwe

 


 

 

 

 


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the securities of more established companies. Neither Faith Capital nor any
other member of Bulls ‘n Bears nor any other person, accepts any liability
whatsoever for any loss howsoever arising from any use of this report or its
contents or otherwise arising in connection therewith. Recipients of this
report shall be solely responsible for making their own independent
investigation into the business, financial condition and future prospects of
any companies referred to in this report. Other  Indices quoted herein are
for guideline purposes only and sourced from third parties.

 


 

 


(c) 2022 Web: <http://www.bullszimbabwe.com>  www.bullszimbabwe.com Email:
<mailto:info at bulls.co.zw> info at bulls.co.zw Tel: +263 4 2927658 Cell: +263 77
344 1674

 


 

 

 

 

 

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