Trump Trade War: South Africa’s Steel Industry Braces for Impact

News Reader: Now 30%. He was started from steel and related products, has sent shockwaves through South Africa’s manufacturing sector. Johannesburg based dynamic fluid control. One of Africa’s largest valve makers, NAFI is losing access to its biggest market, the United States, which accounts for 80% of its export revenue.

Tumi Tsehlo: We have significant exports to the United States that have been done under Goa. Um. And that means that we have been exporting tariff free into the United States, uh, virtually every one of our valves, uh, that we make here, uh, specialized components that go into the mines, into the, uh, water industry, waste water, and so on.

Um, within position of the tariffs, um, it means that, um, on arrival in the United States, everything that gets delivered or that gets invoiced to the United States, uh, from the 1st of August onwards, uh, we have to put up, you know, uh, 30% of the invoice value upfront. And paid, um, when it arrives

News Reader: in just the first five months of this year, south Africa’s iron and steel exports to the United States marked a 27% year on year drop.

The broader industry is now on the edge. The steel and engineering industry’s Federation of Southern Africa warns that the tariff hike effectively nullify South Africa’s access to the US market. Industry leaders say that new trade barriers could trigger significant job losses.

Tafadzwa Chibanguza: The potential that that market holds for us is. Critical in the sense that, as I said, it is the largest, um, consumer market and it is one of the largest economies. So it presents a lot of potential. And also, maybe just a point on that is that already we are operating in an environment of extreme difficulty for the steel industry itself.

News Reader: A South Africa exporters scramble to assess losses. The fallout may report across the industrial base weakening trade relations and threaten the long-term viability of key manufacturing jobs tied to us demand.

Source: https://youtu.be/_4rmVeAwsYw