Due to an oversupply of steel in the global and local market, the South African government faces a critical decision: safeguard the future of the entire steel industry or prop up ArcelorMittal’s outdated and heavily polluting operations.
We, the electric steel producers of South Africa, rely on scrap ferrous steel as a critical raw material to produce long products including steel bars and wire rods used in construction and mining. We are calling on the government to keep the export tax on scrap steel in place as it helps ensure the viability of greener domestic steel production by ensuring sufficient scrap availability.
ArcelorMittal, who still produces steel from iron ore in a heavily polluting process, is pushing for government to remove the scrap metal export tax—a move that would cripple smaller, greener steel producers who collectively make up 75% of South Africa’s long steel production capacity.
