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Institute absorbs other industry bodies to mitigate sector’s challenges

PROJECTS OF SUBSTANCE NEEDED 
The most important issue facing the steel construction today is the lack of meaningful projects

PROJECTS OF SUBSTANCE NEEDED The most important issue facing the steel construction today is the lack of meaningful projects

20th November 2015

  

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The Southern African Institute of Steel Construction (Saisc) is certainly not pessimistic about the future, even though the steel construction industry is currently under significant pressure, notes CEO Paolo Trinchero.

“To consolidate the efforts of industry associations and to optimise their effectiveness, we have created new associations and absorbed others” he says. For example, the International Steel Fabricators (ISF) and Saisc have worked together for about 14 years, the Southern African Light Steel Frame Building Association (Sasfa) joined about nine years back, the Power Line Association of Southern Africa (Polasa) joined two years ago, the Southern African Metal Cladding and Roofing Association (Samcra) about 18 months ago and the most recent addition, the Association of Steel Tube and Pipe Manufacturers (ASTPM) and the Steel Tube Export Association of South Africa (Steasa), joined about two months ago.

Over time, the Saisc group has come together and, while each association retains its own identity completely, the collective is managed by Saisc. As a result, the Saisc group now includes ten associations that will work together to help their members grow their businesses and continue to lobby for them on the plethora of important issues at the relevant government forums, including State-owned government utility or South African rail, port and pipeline company Transnet.

The institutions which are now part of Saisc include the Sasfa, Samcra, Polasa, ASTPM, the Steel Window and Door Association of South Africa, the ISF, Steasa, the Association of Structural Steel Draughtsmen, and the Southern African Racking and Shelving Association, which is currently being set up.

Trinchero notes that there is no doubt that the “economies of scale” principle is most suitable in these circumstances, adding that, rather than each of these associations working on its own in an industry where there are many significant challenges, Saisc will be able to pull together its resources and ensure that it accomplishes what has to be done to help the industry reach its full potential over the years.

“There is certainly an economic advantage to working under one roof. But, the main advantage will be the pooling of the brain power of experienced and dedicated people who have the industry at heart and the knowledge to ensure that we are the best that we can be in terms of beefing up the skills of the steel construction industry in Southern Africa” he adds.

The most important issue facing the steel construction industry today is the lack of meaningful projects, Trinchero points out. “This has been our ‘war cry’ for some time and we continue to emphasise the critical importance of releasing projects in terms of the National Development Plan and, from a macro political perspective, creating confidence to encourage investment in South Africa.”

He points out that, as a collective, the steel construction industry must and will continue to lobby the relevant institutions to ensure that more projects come on stream, and that there is a more level playing field in terms of import pricing, which is obviously a crucial element to the success of the local industry.

Trinchero says the International Trade Administration Commission of South Africa is currently processing import tariff amendments to various steel products that are aimed at reducing the flood of imports into South Africa and levelling the playing fields to some extent.

“We are currently embarking on an exercise to provide a full view of our industry to ensure that we have some balance. For example, on fabricated structural steel, we may have an import tariff on input material of 10% that is balanced by an import tariff on finished goods of 15%,” he says.

A survey has been sent out in collaboration with the South African Iron and Steel Institute, the Manufacturing Circle and the Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of Southern Africa, which will give Saisc a good idea of how the industry relates to an initiative of this order.

He adds that Saisc is encouraged by the work of Polasa, as the organisation now has a much broader range of products designated in the transmission line industry. Moreover, the category Fabricated Structural Steel [category for any finished fabricated steel that is imported into the country] is due for sign off in mid November, which will give the industry a much improved opportunity to participate in government projects, as government will then have to source fabricated goods from local fabricators.

The organisation warns that, while designation and localisation are very important concepts, they must not create a sense of apathy in the industry. However, institutions must also ensure that the South African industry is competitive in the global sense, as putting structures in place that will help localisation will never take the place of South Africa’s industry being able to compete in the global context.

“We are of the opinion that our newly structured Saisc will be in the position to help our industry become more competitive and we invite all those who are keen to make a go of it, to ensure that they use the unique resources offered by this re-engineered and expanded institute,” concludes Trinchero.

Edited by Tracy Hancock
Creamer Media Contributing Editor

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