South Africa has initiated and notified the World Trade Organisation (WTO) of a safeguard investigation on certain cold-rolled iron and steel products imported into the Southern African Customs Union (SACU), following an application by ArcelorMittal South Africa (AMSA), citing serious injury from rising import volumes.
In this notification South Africa indicated that interested parties must make themselves known and provide comments within a period of 20 days after the initiation of the investigation. In this notification the investigation focusses on flat-rolled products of iron, non-alloy steel or other alloy steel (not including stainless steel), whether in coils or not in coils, (including products cut-to-length and narrow strip), not further worked than cold-rolled (cold-reduced), not clad, plated or coated.
According to the filing, the company presented preliminary evidence that rising imports have contributed to falling sales volumes, shrinking market share and sustained losses, it has been reported in Business Day. ITAC said the domestic industry also cited persistent global steel overcapacity and weakening demand, which have redirected exports towards relatively open markets such as SACU as major economies tighten trade barriers. The investigation comes as South Africa expands the use of trade remedies to protect its steel industry while facing growing scrutiny of its own import restrictions.
The injury analysis relates to the information submitted by AMSA, which represents 100% of the SACU production of the like or directly competitive products and therefore constitutes a major proportion of the total domestic production. The applicant submitted prima facie evidence indicating that it is experiencing serious injury during the period of investigation (relative to domestic production in the 2024 (01 January 2024 to 31 December 2024) period), primarily in the form of a decline in sales volumes, decline in market share and decline in profitability, which further shifted to sustained losses, the notice reads.
“There is a persistent global oversupply and weak demand in cold-rolled steel. The persistent global oversupply of cold-rolled steel, exacerbated by continuing investments in cold-rolling capacity and weakening demand in major world markets, has resulted in significant excess production and export capacity that is being diverted to more open markets, such as SACU.”
“Major global economies are imposing trade remedies and tariff barriers, restricting traditional cold-rolled steel exports. As a direct consequence, trade flows are being diverted towards more open markets with lower tariff protection, including SACU.”
A safeguard investigation is intended to determine whether increased imports of a product are causing, or threatening to cause, serious injury to a domestic industry, unlike anti-dumping duties, which target imports from a specific country, safeguard duties apply to imports from almost all countries, subject to limited exceptions.
