JOHANNESBURG, 6 September 2016 – The Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of Southern Africa (SEIFSA) welcomes the decision by the Group of 20 (G-20) leaders to address excess global steel capacity.

JOHANNESBURG, 6 September 2016 – The Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of Southern Africa (SEIFSA) today welcomed Statistics South Africa’s announcement that the economy and manufacturing grew by 3,3% and 8,1%, respectively, in the second quarter – but warned that the country desperately needed political and policy certainty in order to ensure sustainable growth.

JOHANNESBURG, 1 September 2016 – The Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of Southern Africa (SEIFSA) today expressed its growing concern about the deepening distress level in the sector following the release of alarming Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) data by Bureau of Economic Research.

SA’s metals sector and engineering are at a crossroads, an opinion editorial by Henk Langenhoven, SEIFSA’s chief economist featured in both The Star’s Business Report and Business Day on 17 August 2016.

There is no doubt that the metals and engineering sector in South Africa is at a crossroad. Unfortunately, the debate about what needs to be done focuses almost entirely on tariff protection and whether upstream or downstream industries will benefit or be harmed by this move. This makes the perspective a type of zero-sum game analysis.

JOHANNEBURG, 17 August 2016 – The Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of Southern Africa (SEIFSA) today welcomed the court’s decision to set aside the electricity price increase approved by the National Energy Regulator of SA (Nersa) a few months ago.

Nersa had previously approved Eskom’s application to increase its electricity tariff from a previous hike of 3.4% to 9.4%, applicable from 2016. At the time of these developments, SEIFSA condemned the increase and raised concerns on the impact of expensive electricity on the already pressured metals and engineering sector.