SOUTH AFRICA NEWS ON FASTMOVING

The growth of the South African economy was held back and activity slowed in the third quarter of 2013, the SA Reserve Bank said on Tuesday.  read more

Johannesburg - South African yellow-corn futures rose to the highest level in more than 15 months in Johannesburg trading. read more

New research finds banking group Absa’s CashSend to be the most popular mobile money system in South Africa. read more

South Africa has jumped one position in its global web standing, ranking 35th overall out of 81 countries in an index which measures the use, utility and impact of the web on the world’s people and nations. read more

Eskom has declared an electricity supply emergency, and is urging customers to severely curtail usage from Tuesday (19 November) onwards. read more

Johannesburg - The EU is preparing a ban on South African citrus imports that could take orange juice off Europe’s breakfast tables next summer and sour efforts in Brussels to broaden trade with Africa’s biggest economy. read more

Johannesburg - South African shares put in a second straight day of gains on Friday with drugs maker Adcock in focus after Chile's CFR Pharmaceuticals formally bid $1.2bn to acquire it.  read more

Business confidence in the manufacturing sector was weak in the third quarter of this year, according to a Manufacturing Circle survey. read more

Johannesburg - Retail sales grew at a sluggish 0.2% in September compared with the same month last year, after expanding by a revised 3.2% in August, Statistics South Africa said on Wednesday. read more

Cape Town - The permanent employment sector in SA has seen modest gains for the first time in 15 months, according to the latest Adcorp Employment Index.  read more

On the back of growing trade between Ireland and South Africa, Ireland’s Minister for Trade and Development, Joe Costello TD, will lead the third Enterprise Ireland trade mission to South Africa in November.  read more

South African consumers are the second most satisfied in the world, according to the South African Consumer Satisfaction Index (Sacsi), with MTN and Apple appealing most in the ICT space.  read more

Johannesburg - South Africa's HSBC Purchasing Managers' Index rose to 51.5 in October from 49.8 in September, its biggest expansion in 10 months as producers recovered from labour strikes, a survey showed on Tuesday. read more

Cape Town - The South African wine industry can look forward to a good, but smaller 2014 wine grape harvest than the record harvest obtained this year.  read more

Johannesburg - Corn futures in South Africa rose to the highest levels in more than four months by the midday close in Johannesburg.  read more

Sporting an appealing mix of successful retailers guaranteed and construction progressing apace, the vision for the R400 million Eyethu Orange Farm Mall to become a successful, profitable asset for the community of Orange Farm is within reach.  read more

The super-regional 76 000sqm Cradlestone Mall is set to open its doors in Mogale City on 20 November 2013, with more than 200 stores offering unparalleled choice to shoppers, both local and from further afield. read more

Cape Town – The persistent weakness in the perception of SA in international media coverage is the under-representation of SA’s business sector and the difficulty to identify a business leader or leaders “representative" of the country. read more

A Stellenbosch University study shows a rapidly growing black middle class in South Africa, along with a dramatic decline in racial inequality. read more

Johannesburg - South Africa’s inflation rate fell from the highest level in four years to 6 percent in September.  read more

Port Elizabeth - The South African wool market ended softer this week, Cape Wools said on Wednesday. read more

Johannesburg - South Africa has endorsed a trade deal with Poland, Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe has said read more

Johannesburg - The softer global economy and weak domestic business and household confidence are expected to keep South African GDP growth at 2.0% this year with a marginal pick-up to 2.8% in 2014. read more

BOS Ice Tea has recently celebrated its third birthday in South Africa, and has taken the first steps into European markets, launching in Belgium and Holland earlier this month. read more

Johannesburg - Africa’s CEOs are optimistic about the prospects for growth over the next 12 months, according to the PWC Africa Business Agenda 2013. read more

Mall of the North is bringing shoppers more of what they want and improving its shopping experience.  read more

Jozini Mall, the new 18,220 square metre community shopping centre in North-Eastern KwaZulu-Natal, is now fully let and will open on Thursday, 24th October 2013. read more

Simon Susman, the Woolworths chairman, is the latest big businessman to put the cat among the government pigeons by suggesting that the labour market environment is too constraining.  read more

Cape Town - Climate change poses a major threat to South Africa's maize production and food security, says the Agricultural Research Council. read more

The dominance of retail property developments over other types of commercial property development is continuing unabated. read more

South Africa’s GDP per capita is anticipated to grow by US$241 a year between 2010 and 2020, due to an increase in mobile phone subscriptions.  read more

Cape Town - With consumers buckling under rising food, fuel and electricity prices, the gloves have come off as supermarkets go to war for their share of an already tough market.  read more

Today, around 85% of all retail payment transactions are done with cash, which equates to 60% of retail transaction value, while 34% of all consumer payments ($63 trillion in total spend) are done with cash. read more

Johannesburg - The North West province on Wednesday declared there was a drought across its whole territory, an important maize growing region. read more

Consumer spending on Internet access in South Africa will reach approximately R59.6 billion by 2017, up from R19.8 billion in 2012 – a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 24.7%. read more

Johannesburg - South Africa's retail sales grew 2.8 percent year-on-year in July, far below forecasts, but higher than the revised 1.4 percent recorded in June, Statistics South Africa said on Wednesday.  read more

Cape Town - South Africans spend almost four times more on alcohol and cigarettes than on medical expenses and over one and a half times more on clothes than on education, a new study has revealed. read more

A new report highlights the intensified use of social media by South African corporations, with Facebook winning out amongst the big players in the sector. read more

Cape Town - The publication of rules governing the use of the name Rooibos is a first step in preventing its misuse and achieving international protection for the iconic South African plant, said the South African Rooibos Council.  read more

Johannesburg - Manufacturing output increased by 5.4% year-on-year in volume terms in July from a revised 0.5% in June, Statistics South Africa said on Wednesday. read more

New research has revealed the tremendous growth in active users on social networks in South Africa over the past year.  read more

Bloemfontein - The expansion of South Africa’s middle class bodes well for milk producers, SA Milk Producers' Organisation CEO Bertus de Jongh said on Tuesday. read more

Cisco’s Visual Networking Index projects that there will be more than 133 million network connections in South Africa by 2017.  read more

The local furniture industry has been dealt a double blow as a slowdown in consumer spending and a tighter credit market have crippled sales growth, analysts say. read more

A new index reveals that South Africa is ranked fourth when it comes to academics attracting money from businesses to carry out work in innovation and research. read more

Cape Town - There are indications of a degree of consolitation in the South African manufacturing sector, according to Coenraad Bezuidenhout, executive director of the Manufacturing Circle. read more

Pretoria - Agriculture employs 5.2% of the workforce but only accounts for 2.5% of annual gross domestic product, statistician general Pali Lehohla said on Monday. read more

Cape Town - The global wine industry is worth $230bn a year and the potential yields for the South African industry have never been as great, nor the pitfalls as plenty, according to Linda Buckley, director of executive education at UCT’s Graduate School of Business (GSB). read more

Despite an increase in the number of people in South Africa’s middle class, its share of the country’s income has declined, according to a new study. read more

Johannesburg - South Africa’s rand declined for a second day and bonds fell, driving yields to the highest in a month, as credit growth slowed and before data this week that may show the trade deficit this year is widening. read more

Pretoria - South Africa's economic growth prospects have weakened and constraints in electricity supply pose further downside risks, Reserve Bank Governor Gill Marcus said on Friday. read more

Research conducted by the Digital Media and Marketing Association (DMMA) and Echo Consultancy estimates the total internet population in South Africa in 2013 to be almost 14 million users. This represents 39% of the adult population. read more

A new study conducted by financial services firm, KPMG ranks South Africa 22nd, out of 25 countries when it comes to retail customer experience in the mobile phone sector. read more

Pretoria - Efforts are under way to stop the import of unsafe and unauthorised products into South Africa, the National Regulator for Compulsory Specifications (NRCS) said on Tuesday. read more

Mobile handset maker Nokia has announced the appointment of Shaun Durandt as general manager for Nokia South Africa.  read more

Stockholm - The world's second-biggest fashion retailer, Hennes & Mauritz, has signed its first lease to open a store in South Africa, according to a press report.  read more

Cape Town - The Western Cape department of agriculture, together with Wines of South Africa, recently hosted the second Beijing Wine Tasting in China.  read more

Johannesburg - South African white corn futures rose the most in more than three weeks on speculation of tight local supplies. read more

SA music retailer Look & Listen is set to re-launch its digital music store, five months after it halted online purchases on the platform. read more

Electricity in South Africa is among the most expensive in the world, a new survey from NUS Consulting has shown.  read more

Cape Town - China should use the Western Cape as an investment gateway into Africa, the provincial agriculture and rural development department said on Wednesday. read more

Handset sales in South Africa are projected to reach US$2.3 billion (R23 billion) in 2013, up 13% from US$2.1 billion (R21 billion) in 2012, with smartphones the main revenue growth driver, according to new research.  read more

Johannesburg - Foreign direct investment (FDI) flows into South Africa decreased by 24% between 2011 and 2012, according to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad). read more

Johannesburg - Economic growth in the first quarter of 2013 remained subdued due to contraction in the manufacturing sector, the SA Reserve Bank (Sarb) said on Wednesday.  read more

Johannesburg - South Africa has entered into a bilateral agreement with Argentina on co-operation in the agricultural sector, it was announced on Tuesday.  read more

Johannesburg - South Africa’s International Trade Administration Commission said it plans a further probe into the poultry association’s request to raise tariffs on chicken imports to as much as 82 percent before making a recommendation. read more

Johannesburg - Global factors are the main contributors to the current volatility of the rand, analysts said on Wednesday. read more

Brussels - International Relations Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane and the European Commission vice president Baroness Catherine Ashton are having talks behind closed doors at the European external affairs headquarters in Belgium's capital.  read more

The 2013 MasterCard Top Global Destination Cities Index reveals that Johannesburg has taken the number one spot as Africa’s top destination. read more

A BBC World Service 2013 Country Ratings poll has revealed that global sentiment towards South Africa remains positive, overall, but only just. read more

The rand has dipped to a new 4-year low, breaking through the R10 to the dollar mark by mid-afternoon on Thursday (30 May). read more

Johannesburg - Nougat, rooibos tea espressos and art will be on display at the African Fair in Japan later this month, the trade and industry department said on Sunday.  read more

The rand weakened as foreigners sold off R400 million in equities and R799m in bonds last week, driving the rand from R9.15 to the dollar at the start of the week to almost R9.40 on Friday. International markets are very sensitive to any labour disruptions in the mining industry given the tragedy at Marikana last year. read more

Johannesburg – For the third consecutive month in May‚ South Africa continued to be the least-favoured major emerging market according to fund managers polled by Bank of America Merrill Lynch.  read more

Spar Group Ltd. (SPP), a South African food and liquor retailer, said first-half profit climbed 12 percent as higher prices countered slower consumer spending. read more

Choppies Enterprise Limited, the opaque retail store, issued a trading update earlier last month ahead of its two-year ambitious plan that will see its turnover hitting the US$ 1 billion mark (about P 8 billion) per annum. .  read more

Johannesburg - SA’s entertainment and media companies have reached the “end of the digital beginning”‚ with digital activities now becoming the “new normal” for traditional media companies‚ according to a report by professional services firm PwC.  read more

Johannesburg - Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan and his South African counterpart Jacob Zuma will discuss ways to boost trade between Africa's two biggest economies during talks in Cape Town next week. read more

South Africa’s black middle class has more than doubled in the last eight years, growing from 1.7-million South Africans in 2004 to an estimated 4.2-million in 2012, according to research by the UCT Unilever Insitute of Strategic Marketing. read more

Johannesburg - South African corn futures rose the most in more than two months after US prices gained as a government report showed cold and wet weather slowed planting.  read more

Pretoria - Germany is to increase its economic investment in South Africa and other African states, Foreign Affairs Minister Guido Westerwelle said in Pretoria on Monday. read more

Harare - South African investors are considering investing at least $1.6bn (R13.37bn) in capital projects in various sectors of the Zimbabwean economy, a Zimbabwean government minister said on Monday. read more

Johannesburg - South Africa, the continent’s biggest corn producer, cut its forecast for output of the grain by 1.6 percent because of drought in some growing regions, the Crop Estimates Committee said. read more

Johannesburg - South Africa's headline producer inflation was at 5.7% year-on-year in March compared with 5.4% in February, Statistics South Africa said on Thursday. read more

Johannesburg - An incentive to encourage businesses to employ young South Africans and reduce youth unemployment was announced in Johannesburg on Tuesday. read more

London - South African corn futures declined the most in more than a week as prices for the grain decreased in the US, the world’s largest producer, on concern demand from China will weaken. read more

Johannesburg - South Africa has imposed new rules requiring goods imported from occupied Palestinian territories display special labels, a government official said on Thursday.  read more

Johannesburg - The Industrial Policy Action Plan (IPAP) 2013/2014, aimed at creating economic growth, was unveiled in Pretoria on Thursday. read more

Pretoria - South Africa and China have signed the terms of reference of a joint inter-ministerial working group to strengthen co-operation, President Jacob Zuma said on Tuesday.  read more

Johannesburg - The SA Reserve Bank's concern about growth and consumer growth in particular shows that interest rate hikes are just not possible, economists say. read more

The South African sugar industry is pushing for the introduction of import tariffs aimed at reducing the amount of sugar imported into the country, as well as for trade agreements to be extended to European markets to increase its sugar exports, which would hopefully add R1 billion to the industry’s inconsistent and struggling revenue growth.  read more

Social network Facebook has continued to lose South Africa users in February, according to data from social media monitoring firm, SocialBakers. 

Legislation paving the way for putting e-tolling on the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project (GFIP) into practice was approved in the National Assembly on Tuesday.  read more

Harare - Zimbabwe is working on putting stringent measures on meat imports from South Africa amid concerns of contaminated meat products from the country.  read more

Cape Town - There’s a fair share of fraudulent meat products on the South African market, according to a new study by meat scientists from Stellenbosch University.  read more

Johannesburg - American businesses with operations in South Africa remain “very bullish” about the country and Africa as a whole despite concerns regarding skills‚ competitiveness and the regulatory environment in South Africa‚ US Senator Christopher Coons (Delaware) said on Wednesday night. read more

Johannesburg - South African corn futures rose for a fifth day because of a lack of rain in the country’s main growing regions. read more

The new No.1 Silo office building at the V&A Waterfront has been awarded a 6 star Green Star SA rating by the Green Building Council of South Africa. The No. 1 Silo office development is South Africa’s latest – and largest - green office building. read more

Johannesburg - South African corn futures fell to the lowest level in more than 11 months after the US Department of Agriculture raised estimates for world inventories. Soybeans declined. read more

Cape Town - South Africa's labour force decreased by 235 000 people between the third and fourth quarters of 2012, the latest Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) revealed on Tuesday. read more