Despite the depressed construction, manufacturing and mining sectors putting capital projects on hold, local steel tube and pipe manufacturer Robor’s carbon steel division, Robor Baldwins, is focused on growing its presence in all the market sectors in which it is currently active by offering products that add as much value as possible to the company’s final service offering.
Robor Baldwins believes its range of prod- ucts and services can offer its markets added value, but highlights that it continues to investigate avenues and opportunities to grow its market share and deliver a high-quality product by deadline.
Robor Baldwins sales director Vicus Meyburgh regards the current state of the steel industry as an opportunity for the company to grow and believes its high-quality products and services will be a determining factor in its success.
Robor Baldwins’ biggest challenge involves gaining a consistent supply of material from local steel mills, owing to South Africa’s depressed steel market and dealing with the negative effect on the South African steel market of cheap fabricated products, imported from China and India into South Africa and neighbouring countries.
Meyburgh further highlights that the fire at steel producer ArcelorMittal South Africa’s Vanderbijlpark plant, south of Gauteng, in February and the subsequent short supply of steel had a negative effect on the availability of the material in South Africa. As a result, some projects in the country were put on hold, with some of them having since restarted.
However, Robor Baldwins continued to supply its customers, as it sourced steel from other countries. The division notes, however, that its regular steel supply mix is influenced by local mill performance, international pricing and local material availability.
Meanwhile, the depressed construction, manufacturing and mining sectors have resulted in uncertain and irregular steel prices in South Africa, which largely affect the buying patterns of customers, says Meyburgh. “Unxpected price increases or decreases cause uncertainty and customers either exceed the month’s steel requirements or delay buying steel until the steel price is announced,” he highlights. Meyburgh points out, however, that steel demand from the automotive sector in South Africa has remained stable in the last few years.
Engineering News reported last month that Robor Baldwins, while still a relatively new supplier of steel to the automotive industry, had put strategic plans in place to grow this market, which the division said was a competitive one.
While there is no need to increase the division’s capacity at this time, Robor Baldwins has a definite replacement strategy in place for its equipment and machinery to enable it to service the needs of the building and construction, automotive, rail, energy and engineering sectors, adds Meyburgh.