“Port Elizabeth is the catalytic converter capital of the world,” is the claim of Catalytic Converter Interest Group colleague Hans Kuehn.

When one follows the linkages of the catalytic converter industry in Nelson Mandela Bay and beyond, he may be right.

South African companies in the catalytic converter supply chain have grown their global market share in the face of intense competition on price, quality and delivery.

A good place to start is the size of the industry.

It is big – not only in South African terms, but also world terms – with the country producing an estimated 14% of the world’s automotive catalytic converters.

Many hundreds of thousands of catalytic converters are shipped out from Nelson Mandela Bay every month, contributing billions in foreign exchange.

According to the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of SA, catalytic converters were the biggest earner of foreign exchange in the component sector in 2005 – with exports of over 10-million units totalling R8,2-billion to R10,2-billion.

This was 34% of the estimated R21,7-billion worth of exports by component manufacturers.

The industry supports around 4 000 direct jobs around the country, with many thousands more in support companies stretching right back to the platinum mines.

Platinum group metals are the “working” part of a catalytic converter, which turns noxious gases produced by a car or truck engine into safer emissions.

Port Elizabeth’s entry into the catalytic converter market was given a kick-start by the then Delta Motor Company (now General Motors SA), which initiated the export of converters from the metro.

The rapid growth of exports to the point where South Africa now supplies one in seven catalytic converters fitted to cars and commercial vehicles around the world, is because of support from the Motor Industry Development Plan.

Without the plan, or something like it, the South African products would be priced out of the market due to the logistics costs of transporting the units to assembly plants around the world.

Any reduction in catalytic exports would mean a loss of skills, as well as jobs.

It is an extremely high-tech industry that combines a range of disciplines.