11. INDUSTRY COHESION AND STEEL INDUSTRY DEVELOPMENT FUND 11.1 Industry leaders will work to bring the industry together. The capacity and expertise remaining in the sector associations must be increased and used more effectively to rebuild the industry and provide specialist business development services and information. Potential issues with the competition legislation must be clarified with this in mind. There is an urgent need to improve the availability of statistical information about the industry, to develop standards and to be able to liaise effectively with government, which the current fragmentation makes very difficult.
11.2
The Steel Industry Development Fund
11.2.1 The industry will establish a Steel Industry Development Fund through a levy on each metric ton of primary steel sold. The Fund and its use will be controlled by the industry itself. The levy will be a fixed amount (R5 – 10), which is a very small percentage of the total steel price (about 0.1%) and must be guaranteed to continue for at least three years. Individual companies have committed further amounts to the Fund. It is proposed that it will be administered by an industry body, using existing capacity, but will be controlled by a representative Steel Industry Steering Committee. The Steering Committee of the Fund will include representatives of the dtic . This levy has been agreed by all but one of the major steel producers and all of those canvassed in the mini-mills. The remaining producer is however committed to supporting specific programmes. It is proposed that the levy be applicable to both domestic and imported products equally; i.e. an equivalent amount must be levied on all imported steel. Imposing a levy on imports will require further engagement with the National Treasury. In the first instance, the Fund will support the following projects. The Steering Committee will approve business plans and budgets for them.
11.2.2 Identifying new market opportunities, particularly on the African continent, and promoting exports.
11.2.3 Supporting joint research and development projects to strengthen the value proposition of local steel producers. 11.2.4 A Compliance Investigation Unit, which will support SARS, the dtic , the Auditor General and the National Prosecution Authority to enforce the trade measures on imports and the use of local production for designated products and support local content verification. 11.2.5 It will be based on a database which receives information from the industry and from a whistleblowers line, which can be made available by the Powerline Association. Investigators will be employed who are very experienced in the industry and can train SARS officials and follow up designation and other procurement issues. Other assistance to SARS will depend on SARS’ requirements. The terms of reference of the unit are attached as Annexure B The unit will make consolidated and anonymised reports to the industry on a regular basis. 11.2.6 Mentoring and training programmes, especially of middle and junior management and scarce skills, such as steel fixers and toolmakers. The primary objective of the training and mentoring is to increase professionalism and expertise in the industry. 11.2.7 Produce authoritative indices and produce statistical reports. The aggregation of sales and prices will be very valuable for the industry. 11.2.8 Support the compilation of applications for trade remedy measures for industry which often requires an independent organisation to collect commercial information.
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The South African Steel and Metal Fabrication Master Plan 1.0
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