South Africa’s R15-billion stainless steel industry has felt the strain of a contraction in its apparent consumption figures in the last two years, caused by a flood of Asian imports mainly from China, a drop in exports of finished products and the resultant huge decrease in the conversion of primary to finished products.
This was reported by Southern African Stainless Steel Development Association (sassda) Executive Director John Tarboton at the association’s 2017 AGM held in Sandton, Johannesburg.
Looking at the value and output of the local market Tarboton explained that apparent consumption last year was just over 130 000T in terms of primary product which represents a value of R4.6-billion, if you assume an average cost of USD 35K per tonne. The conversion of that product – costed at twice that of primary product value – equals an additional R9.2B, which results in the total value of the local stainless industry of close to R15-billion.
Overall, the statistics show that the stainless-steel market continues to contract in 2017.
