Well, I think that what we have got to accept is that the question of the pricing of the inputs by the private companies is a fundamental issue. One part of it is the import parity pricing which is prevailing, by some of the upstream monopoly companies that are important suppliers of inputs into downstream and more labour- intensive manufacturing.
Now we have gone to the competition authorities. I want to make the simple point that it is not just we who that say the pricing is inappropriate. We have won a number of cases through the competition authorities, but the pricing practices continue, and fines and issues of that sort are not sufficient.
The other matter that we need to make sure of is that the price of minerals is also attractive in order to support beneficiation in this country. The real issue is that we have a supply of industrial minerals, and also, of course, the point was made that we have agricultural products. There are huge benefits that we can derive from ensuring that we add value to those mineral products.
There are many things that we need to do to make that happen, including providing incentive programmes, special economic zones and things like that. Moreover, we also have to make sure that the pricing policies are appropriate. So, I gave a few examples.
One of them was this - and I would be glad to have a bit more time, because I want to say that I was misquoted in what was said to me about what I said to the portfolio committee. [Interjections.] I made the point - and this is stuff coming from the industry itself - that if we had a 10% reduction in the price of catalytic converters, we would be able to grow the production of auto catalytic converters by five times in this country. I further said that actually since the platinum group metals account for 50% of the cost of a catalytic converter, the price of the raw material is a significant factor in that regard.
The steel price which comes out of ArcelorMittal SA has been on average 13% higher than the proposed benchmark price of the Department of Trade and Industry, which relates to world prices, excluding China. That is despite the fact that ArcelorMittal SA actually gets its iron ore at a 44% lower price than the spot price of iron ore.
Then there are polymers. They can be up to 60% of the cost of plastics. So, a discount price on polymers could make a bigger difference to the downstream plastics industries. That is the issue that is at stake.
What are we going to do about this? The hon Shivambu says we must resort to section 26 of the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act. Well, the fact of the matter is that that Act has not been promulgated yet, so we can't resort to that.
What I can say is what we are doing. We have identified four particular industrial mineral value chains that we are developing a programme on. They are the platinum group metals; iron and steel; rare metals, including products like titanium; and capital goods into the mining industry. What I can further say is that we are preparing a Mineral Beneficiation Action Plan, which will be incorporated into the next iteration of the Industrial Policy Action Plan.
We will be deploying our preferences. Let us negotiate a price. If we can get a negotiated price that is satisfactory and provides an adequate discount, that will be one thing, but if we can't, we are not going to be able to flinch from actually ensuring that we create a competitive advantage based on the fact that we have mineral products in this country. That is what we need to do.
So, the difference between us appears to be that you want us to be tough when it comes to pricing by Eskom or by the Ports Authority. I've said already, and the hon Koornhof has said it too, that we are intervening in that regard to try to ensure that the pricing of electricity supports industrialisation.
Secondly, though, the difference appears to be that when it comes to the big mining monopolies, it's, "Hands off! Back off! Leave that alone!" [Interjections.] That's the contradiction. That's where they stand. [Interjections.] If that's the policy, the policy is to pander to the vested interests of monopoly capital. Well, we know. [Interjections.] That's the DA we know. That's the DA we have always known. Thank you very much. [Applause.]