SA’s bulk export volumes fell 7.2% year on year in August to 11.7-million tonnes, after surging by 34.5% in July to 15.6-million tonnes, according to Transnet National Ports Authority. This brought the increase for the first eight months of 2017 to 6.8% year on year, showing that mining and agricultural bulk exports are boosting the South African economy, even as the deficit on the services, income and current transfer accounts widened to 3.8% of GDP in the second quarter, from 3.3% of GDP in the first quarter. Bulk exports out of Richards Bay, which are mostly coal, grew by 0.5% to 6.5-million tonnes in August after soaring 36.3% in July to 8.4-million tonnes. Bulk exports out of Saldanha, which are mostly iron ore, plunged 22.3% in August to 4.0-million tonnes after rising by 23.6% to 5.3-million tonnes in July.
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