SA bulk manufacturer invests in the DRC
South African bulk bag manufacturer GLS Supply Chain Equipment has opened a manu- facturing plant in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) with an initial stock outlay of over R4-million.
GLS regional sales manager Etienne de Villiers states that the target market for the company in the African mining industry is the transportation of mineral ore concentrate in bulk bags for export and local use.
The export bag has the properties of a single-trip bag, and the local bag that of a multitrip bag. The single-trip bags are used to transport minerals from the mines to the smelters, where the concentrate is processed. The multitrip bags are reused to transport product locally.
“My experience in the DRC market is that demand for the two main types of bags often changes, and these changes are based on how demand for mineral concentrate and processed minerals changes,” says De Villiers.
He notes that the company uses locals to convert the bags to meet current demand.
“To my knowledge, there is not a single bulk bag manufacturer in the DRC, which means all bags are imported from South Africa, China and India. A lot of consumers import bulk bags themselves, while the rest are supplied by local agents. The only way to close the gap, when supply is low and import too lengthy, is to manufacture locally,” says De Villiers.
Large consumers will still have the price bene- fit of doing their own importing, but buying locally will eliminate lengthy waiting times, cashflow pressure and advance planning, which is difficult with the fluctuating markets.
GLS is concentrating on the DRC market for now, but De Villiers says that it has identified the need for transport bag manufacturing plants to be opened in Zambia and Zimbabwe.
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