Steel Industry Calls For Reversal of Scrap Metal Policies

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The representatives belonging to the Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of Southern Africa (Seifsa) urged the country’s president Cyril Ramaphosa to reverse the scrap metal policies for the betterment of South African steel industry.

The development follows closure of the Vereeniging and Newcastle long steel operations by ArcelorMittal South Africa on Tuesday, leading to around 3,500 job losses. It must be noted that prominent labour union Solidarity had blamed Ramaphosa government’s policies for the collapse of ArcelorMittal South Africa’s long steel business.

Lucio Trentini, CEO, Seifsa noted that the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (DTIC) has miserably failed to create an environment conducive to growth, stability and job security in the country. The Federation had warned earlier that the consequences of the scrap metal policy is likely to result in casualties across the industry, he noted.

Seifsa demanded that policy issues pertaining to the metals and engineering sectors must be escalated to the Economic Cluster of Ministries as DTIC does not have a clear idea about the implications of the policy on the sector. It called for urgent top level action in order to avert a potential catastrophic impact in the metals and engineering industries.