Government urged to halt decline of steel industry
The National Employers' Association of South Africa has made another desperate plea to government to implement measuresto halt the 35-year decline of the steel industry.
It wrote another open letter to government - bemoaning
the 10% customs duty on steel imports, saying it's hurting the downstream steel
industry.
The association's Gerard Papenfus says there is no downstream support for protectionist measures introduced to protect steel giant Arcelor Mittal South Africa from the effects of cheaper Chinese imports.
"We now need to access cheaper more affordable steel in order for us to compete. When times went well for Arcelor they introduced or enforced pricing on the downstream so we pay very high prices in good times. Now that the times are bad for Arcelor they running for protection," he said.