The graph below shows the impact of the statements listed in the questionnaire in relation to one another, grouped by topic, in order to provide a clear picture of the grouped topics that impact most on supplies.
Diagram 5.8: Impact of grouped statements on Southern Natal supply volumes.
NCT Issues 8%
——~^^ Operational
^ ^ Issues
^ 30%
Banking i
iliiil§i§l§i^
30% £ 30% £
Price Competition
32%
Diagram 5.8 shows a similar pattern to that of diagram 5.6 dealing with the impact of grouped statements on Northern Natal in that the majority of impact stems from price and banking issues. Northern Natal scored a 65% combined score for price and banking and Southern Natal, as can be seen above, scores 62%. Similarly operational issues score 30% here for Southern Natal and 25% in the Northern Natal results. It appears that these two districts are closely related in the issues that affect them.
5.6.1. Discussion of Zululand District results
The following table shows a summary of the statements ranked from highest (largest impact) to lowest (least or no impact).
Table 5.6: Zululand district ranked average scores
Zululand District Average Scores ranked from highest scoring statements to lowest.
No Statement Impact
6 My other farming activities reduce my timber supplies. 50
4 A R20 decrease relative to alternative buyers in the price that NCT pays for eucalyptus pulpwood will
reduce my NCT supplies. 38
14 At a mill delivered price of R230/ton I will stop/slow down harvesting and bank my timber. 31
7 Labour and/or contractor problems reduce my supplies. 31
3 A R10 decrease relative to alternative buyers in the price that NCT pays for eucalyptus pulpwood will
reduce my NCT supplies. 25
8 A lack of transport reduces my supplies. 19
5 A lack of service from NCT reduces my supplies. 13
9 The possible non-payment of commitment bonuses reduces my supply volumes. 13 10 My supplies to other non-pulpwood markets e.g. pole markets and special markets reduce my
pulpwood available to NCT. 13
1 Supplies to other agents or buyers initiated in the last 24 months reduce my NCT supply volumes. 6 15 At a mill delivered price of R2507ton I will stop/slow down harvesting and bank my timber 6 2 A R5 decrease relative to alternative buyers in the price that NCT pays for eucalyptus pulpwood will
reduce my NCT supplies. 0
11 Recent investments made by NCT, in for example Durban Woodchips and Pulp United, has
prompted me reduced my supplies to NCT. 0
12 The fact that NCT as a co-operative has not converted to a company has prompted me to reduce my
NCT supplies. 0
13 NCT systems and procedures have prompted me to reduce my NCT supplies. 0 16 At a mill delivered price of R270/ton I will stop/slow down harvesting and bank my timber 0 17 At a mill delivered price of R2go/ton I will stop/slow down harvesting and bank my timber 0
Total Average 14
As in the case of Greytown, the Zululand district compared to Northern and Southern Natal is overall affected to a lesser degree by the factors listed in the questionnaire. This district scores an average score of 14. Statement 6, my other farming activities scored the highest out of the statements, followed by statements 4 and 14 dealing with price and banking and statement 7 relating to labour and contractors problems.
The graph below shows the impact of the statements listed in the questionnaire in relation to one another in a visual format, reiterating the analysis above. Statement numbers with a nil value have been removed from the graph for ease of reading.
Diagram 5.9: Statements impacting on the Zululand district supply volumes.
Note the impact of statements 6, 4, 7, 14 and 3. Once again any statements scoring nil have been removed from the graph for ease of reading.
The graph below shows the impact of the statements listed in the questionnaire in relation to one another, grouped by topic, in order to provide a clear picture of the grouped topics that impact most on supplies.
Diagram 5.10: Impact of grouped statements on Zululand supply volumes.
NCT Issues Banking 3 %
16%
Price Competition
26%
Operational Issues
55%
Diagram 5.10 clearly show the biggest impact, as suspected, coming from operational issues, 55%, this is similar to Greytown's 64%, if somewhat less. Banking and price make up a combined impact of 42%. In all three the other districts there is not much in it between the score allocated to banking and price competition.
In the Zululand district the score difference between price and banking is 10%, the biggest variance out of all the districts, making this the only district that will clearly rather sell their timber to the competition than bank it, however as price competition plays a comparatively small role they are unlikely to pursue either avenue.
In summary there are clear similarities between the results from the Greytown and the Zululand districts. Similarly similarities exist between the Southern and Northern Natal districts. For the aforementioned district operational issues are the main constraints in the system and for the latter price related issues make up the main constraints to supplies.
This concludes the findings chapter. In the next chapter conclusions from the findings are presented.
Chapter 6
Conclusions
In this chapter the conclusions drawn from the findings in the previous chapter are presented structured by the research objectives presented earlier in the report.