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Auto makers producing in South Africa resumed
activity in September after a four-week strike by 220,000
metal-workers that hurt assembly lines of brands including
Toyota, General Motors and Ford.
Last month, Ford's regional head said the company would hesitate
before making further investments in the continent's most
developed economy because of frequent work stoppages.
South Africa's S.P. Metal Forgings will discontinue production
of two components that it supplied to SKF, the world's largest
bearings maker, after Ford canceled its contract with the
Swedish company, said Marius Croucamp, spokesman for the
Solidarity union.
Production of the two parts will stop in February, S.P. Metal
Forgings said in a letter dated Nov. 28 to employees and seen by
Reuters.
"It could be a consequence of the strike," Croucamp said of the
contract's cancellation.
The South African company declined to comment while Ford was not
immediately available for comment.
An SKF spokesperson confirmed the company was a Ford supplier
but declined to comment on its "contractual relationship with
them".
Ford sells about 6,000 vehicles a month in South Africa, making
it the country's third-largest supplier behind Toyota and
Volkswagen. It also exports vehicles.
(Reporting by Helen Nyambura-Mwaura; Editing by Mark Potter)
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