12 INTEGRATED ANNUAL REPORT 2024 It seems that every year I pen the General Manager’s report there has been some extreme event or condition that deserves mention, either on the world stage, in our markets, or within South Africa itself. None that I recall, arguably in the history of NCT over 75 remarkable years, will top the Richards Bay fire of October 2023. As we pour energy into the rebuilding of both lines, much has been said of the fire, the source, the devastating damage, interim plans, and the timelines to restore normal operations. It’s hard to take positives out of what will end up being months of downtime in Richards Bay, but nonetheless there are indeed some that deserve mention. We have still been able to handle, tranship, store and process (via Durban) a decent portion of our northern members’ Acacia over the period. We have started up mobile chippers, processed and loaded more than 80 000 tonnes of Eucalyptus for biomass markets. We have transferred some of Richards Bay’s vessels to our Durban operation which has, ironically, been a strategic intention for many a year. Despite the massive impact our fire had on the local businesses and communities, we have been praised by the media, the municipalities, and officials on how we handled the disaster. Our constant and transparent communication outwards as well as our willingness to engage and share our experiences, learnings and gratitude was well received. It is at times of extreme calamity that one can deduce the mettle of one’s troops, and our NCT staff again rose to the occasion in fantastic form, and I commend all of them, and am very proud of how they have contributed to and handled a remarkably difficult year. From a market perspective, fires or not, the pulp and paper markets remain in the doldrums, held down by an ongoing Chinese recession and other world events. Demand for pulp and paper remains negative, complicated by further pulp production capacity coming online in China and South America. Dollar prices for BHK pulp have edged towards $650 per tonne but show no signs of further recovery in the short to medium term. That translates into challenging pressure on dollar prices for wood chips and volumes into the markets in Japan and China. Ironically, with the volumes we were trading, at favourable pricing and exchange rates, we may have been able to report another record-breaking year had we not experienced the fire. In fact, with a couple of Richards Bay ships moved over to our Durban operation, our DWC Mill was able to break volume and profit records for the year under review. General Manager’s Report DANN Y KNO E S E N
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