sasol solvents Performing in all areas Benefiting from our business  improvement process 52  Sasol Solvents has plants in South Africa and Germany and supplies alcohols,  ketones, esters, acrylic acid esters, ethyl acetate, ethers, propionic acid,  acetic acid, comonomers and mining chemicals to customers worldwide.  It has a German maleic anhydride joint venture with Huntsman. Sasol Solvents had a good year,  recording encouraging improvements  in its safety, environmental, operational  and financial performance. We continued  to invest in new technologies and  maintained strong relationships  with customers. With a renewed focus on getting the  basics right, Sasol Solvents reported  progress in its safety record, lowering its  RCR to 0,37 from 0,49. We also realised  a reduction in the amount of volatile  organic compound emissions, in line  with efforts to meet the Sasol group’s  environmental targets. These include  a decrease in flares, emissions and  energy consumption. The Registration,  Evaluation and Authorisation of Chemicals  (REACH) registration of our products in  Europe continued according to schedule  and requirements. As end-use markets started a slow and  steady recovery from the lows of 2008  and 2009, demand for Sasol Solvents’  products showed an encouraging increase.  However, we estimate that demand is still  some 15% below that recorded before the  global economic crisis. Some product  margins widened during the year, but an  increase in feedstock prices and changes  Many of Sasol Solvents’ customers are  located a long way from the South African  operations, making supply chain  management an important focus of our  business. A particular challenge is the  In South Africa, we are also scrutinising  our assets and product portfolio, using  the methods and learnings from the  process followed in Germany.  In Germany, the business improvement  process has started to yield positive  results. We streamlined business processes  and focused on reducing variable and fi xed  costs as well as working capital. Active  employee participation in this process was  notable, with many of the ideas that were  implemented being generated by staff  members. The process resulted in  a significant reduction in jobs, which  was achieved by implementing measures  that excluded forced retrenchments.  Sasol Solvents increased both sales and  production volumes in the year. But a  stronger-than-expected South African  currency limited the rand value of  euro- and dollar-denominated sales.  Turnover decreased 13% to R15 765 million  in 2010. Operating profit, however, rose  to R1 154 million from R495 million  in 2009 as we reduced fixed and variable  costs to infl ationary levels.  in refinery margins and capacity have  recently placed renewed pressure on the  profitability of certain of our products.