6/23/2012 12:04:00 PM
NEWS BRIEFS
Safma: Imports Imperil South Africa’s Fastener Industry
(Courtesy Engineering News)
The future of the fastener industry in South Africa depends heavily on the recent provisional antidumping duties being fully implemented, South African Fasteners Manufacturers Association (Safma) chairperson Rob Pietersma told Engineering News.
In May the International Trade Administration Commission of South Africa (Itac) imposed an antidumping duty of 104.5% on fully threaded set screws with hexagonal heads imported from China. The duty excludes stainless steel screws.
The provisional duty will remain in force until November 2, when Itac by which time it is expected a full investigation by Itac would have been finalised.
The tariff followed evidence of dumping submitted by Safma in 2011, according to Engineering News.
Safma discovered “undercutting, depression, and suppression of prices by China, resulting in a decline in capacity use, output and profit for local manufacturers and an increase in inventory levels.”
Safma brought the application to Itac on behalf of two large South African set screw manufacturers: CBC Fasteners (managed by Pietersma) and Transvaal Press.
“Imports really came into South Africa in the early 1990s and, at that point, they were coming in by the hundreds of tons,” Pietersma explained. “South African manufacturers were enjoying a big share in the local market and also had a stable export market.”
During the last two decades, however, the growth of Chinese manufacturing and dumping has spread, he said.
Since 2008, when the global recession struck, fastener imports “escalated into the thousands of tons and, as a result of international competition, the country’s export market has been decimated,” writes Gia Costella of Engineering News.
Related Stories:
• EU Launches Stainless Steel Fastener Circumvention Investigation
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