The Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of Southern Africa (SEIFSA) has welcomed the decision by the G20 leaders to address excess global steel capacity.
SEIFSA’s Chief Executive Officer, Kaizer Nyatsumba, said that the decision, announced at the G20 leaders’ summit in Hangzhou, China on Monday, September 5, was very important not only for domestic steel producers, but also for the international market.
“The international steel glut has resulted in massive job losses in the sector around the world and the unavoidable imposition of punitive tariffs by most countries with steel production capacity. We can only hope that in the months and years to come, excess steel capacity will decline from its current levels of 700 million mt and eventually eradicated. More importantly, we hope that the current practice of subsidizing steel production through interest-free loans, which makes it possible for Chinese producers to undercut their global competitors, will also give way to fair international competition,” Mr Nyatsumba said.