Opinion: South Africa’s steel debate is still too narrow

Our Secretary General Charles Dednam recently shared his perspective in an opinion piece published by Engineering News, arguing that South Africa’s steel debate must go beyond monitoring the volumes of primary steel being imported into the country.

In the piece, Charles highlights that the real competitive threat is no longer limited to imported steel as a raw or semi-finished material. It is increasingly arriving as imported manufactured goods that already contain steel, from machinery and appliances to construction products and industrial equipment.

He calls for a broader policy response that looks at the full value chain, including trade defence, import monitoring, localisation rules, and customs enforcement, and poses an important question that South Africa cannot afford to ignore:

“How much of South Africa’s manufacturing base is being displaced by imported goods made from steel elsewhere?”

Read the full opinion piece on Engineering News here:https://www.engineeringnews.co.za/article/opinion-south-africas-steel-debate-is-still-too-narrow-2026-07-07