DIVERSIFIED aggregates, concrete products, and industrial minerals group Afrimat is keeping its head above water at a time when volatility is a byword for the country’s building and construction industries. SA’s economy is "flat on its back", says CEO Andries van Heerden.The company has lost a significant customer in the now defunct Evraz Highveld Steel and Vanadium, SA’s second-largest steel producer, to which it sold mined materials.Despite this loss, and despite a "dogfight going on" in the domestic cement industry — a major Afrimat customer — the company posted decent results for the year to end-February, with headline earnings per share jumping 15.5%."There is a price war in the cement industry. (But) the aggregates market is extremely strong," Van Heerden says.Aside from cheap Asian cement imports, there is substantial overcapacity in regional cement markets, spurred by newcomers Sephaku Cement and Mamba Cement — backed, respectively, by Nigerian and Chinese interests.However,...
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