The Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of Southern Africa (SEIFSA) calls on government to act urgently to arrest the deterioration of the metals and engineering sector. Falling production, underutilised capacity and mounting import pressure are weakening the industrial base. Government’s response remains too slow and fragmented for the scale of the threat. Continuing with business as usual is indefensible.
The consequences extend beyond individual businesses. Capacity lost today cannot simply be switched back on when conditions improve. Continued delay risks taking parts of the industry beyond the point of recovery.
Other major economies have responded decisively to pressure on their industries. The European Union has tightened steel import quotas and increased duties on imports above those quotas, while the United States has strengthened tariffs on steel and related products. These interventions are reshaping global trade and heightening the risk of trade diversion into other markets. South Africa needs a response suited to its own industrial structure and the interests of its full value chain, delivered with comparable urgency.
Consultation with industry is necessary to develop sound policy. It must, however, lead to decisions and implementation within clear timeframes. Repeated engagements, prolonged reviews and announcements without timely execution leave businesses exposed to the same pressures. A well-intentioned policy implemented too late can fail to protect the capacity it was intended to sustain.
Against this background, SEIFSA is deeply concerned by recent media reports that the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (the dtic) is finalising a revised Steel Master Plan. SEIFSA has learnt of these reported revisions through the media and has not been consulted on, or participated in developing, the revised document now being described. The dtic must make the proposed revisions available and explain the process followed, the stakeholders involved and how the full value chain will be represented.
The concern goes beyond consultation. Producing another policy document does not, in itself, constitute progress. Government must account for what existing commitments have delivered, where implementation has failed and how those failures will be corrected. An additional policy layer cannot compensate for the failure to execute.
SEIFSA has warned that accumulating policy documents without a clear hierarchy deepens uncertainty and weakens accountability. The Industrial Development Strategy, the reported revision of the Steel Master Plan and the industry roadmap contemplated in late 2025 must have a clearly defined relationship. Government must explain which framework sets the strategic direction, how the sectoral instruments give effect to it, and who resolves conflicting objectives or interventions.
The sector needs a coherent and ambitious framework that responds to current pressures while establishing a credible path to investment and growth. That requires coordinated action across trade, energy, logistics, municipal services and demand creation. Aligning the framework must proceed alongside immediate intervention; it cannot become another reason to defer decisions.
SEIFSA calls for the following action:
1. Act immediately to prevent further capacity losses. Prioritise the pressures threatening viable production and employment, accelerate outstanding decisions and implement measures that can provide relief now. The pace of intervention must reflect the pace at which industrial capability is being lost.
2. Clarify the strategic direction and policy hierarchy. Explain how the Industrial Development Strategy, Steel Master Plan and industry roadmap fit together. Resolve overlaps and contradictions, and establish a clear mechanism for coordinating decisions across departments and agencies.
3. Assess interventions across the full value chain. Evaluate the costs and benefits for primary producers, intermediate processors, fabricators and downstream manufacturers before decisions are taken. Measures affecting tariffs, scrap, input prices or supply must account for their effects on competitiveness, employment and exports throughout the chain. Supporting one segment while undermining another cannot deliver sustainable industrial recovery.
4. Create the conditions for growth. Combine immediate stabilisation with measures that improve operating costs and reliability, unlock productive investment and translate infrastructure programmes into orders for local manufacturers. Retaining capacity must be accompanied by a credible route to using and expanding it.
5. Make delivery measurable and enforce accountability. Assign responsible institutions and decision-makers, set implementation deadlines and publish regular progress against defined outcomes. Success must be measured in production, capacity utilisation, investment and jobs. Missed commitments must trigger corrective action.
SEIFSA and its member associations are ready to contribute practical proposals and technical expertise to this work. Government must provide the leadership, coordination and speed of execution required to turn that contribution into results.
South Africa cannot afford to lose industrial capability while policy processes continue without resolution. Every avoidable delay raises the cost of recovery and narrows the capacity available to support reindustrialisation. Government must act now, with a coherent direction and urgency proportionate to the crisis.
