Its figures show that exports via the Sishen-Saldanha line rose by 25% in January while cement sales volumes increased by 22% during the month. Also government revenue was sharply up, rising by 22,6% y/y to a record R102,065bn. Company tax collections were up by 30,7% y/y and Value Added Tax grew by 30,5% y/y as well.
Worryingly there was a 56% surge in Eskom's unplanned outages to 5737MW in the first five weeks of the year, caused by a host of failures including boiler tube leaks, poor coal quality and excessive heat.
Summer is Eskom's peak maintenance period because demand is seasonally low.
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