South Africa's chemicals sector should see steady growth in spite of the current financial crisis, consultants Frost and Sullivan said on Thursday.

"Our analysis has indicated that companies operating in the chemicals sector have reported strong third quarter results when compared to other sectors," said Frost and Sullivan programme manager Mani James.

"The chemicals sector, which includes plastics and fuel, is still experiencing strong demand from government-related infrastructure spending," he said.

The construction industry in South Africa had experienced robust growth of 14.4 percent in the second quarter, having benefited from the increased infrastructure activity.

This was stimulated by the construction of new soccer stadiums for the 2010 World Cup and other major infrastructure projects such the Gautrain, James said.

"This trend is likely to continue, with fairly robust growth anticipated for the construction industry propelled by both public and private sector fixed investment."

James said the government had hinted that there would be no slowdown in its infrastructure projects.

Change of guard

"There has been a recent change of guard, but so far the transition has been orderly and [the] ANC has also reassured the country that there won't be a departure from government policies of the last few years."

This meant that demand for polymers and plastics in particular would remain robust.

The local petrochemicals and liquid fuels markets were also likely to experience growth in line with global trends, James said.

Agrochemicals would benefit from ongoing investments in food-related activities, which would not be significantly affected by the global crisis.

Demand for intermediate chemicals would, however, fall in line with a decline in demand for metals, James noted.

Spending on pharmaceuticals and other speciality chemicals was also expected to decline considerably.

Sapa

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