South African steel industry needs stable demand to be import-competitive for grid pylons

A study benchmarking the price of steel transmission grid pylon towers and what South African manufacturers can do to compete with Chinese and Turkish imports showed that “a bit of” stable demand was needed to enable local manufacturers to compete effectively. The ‘Price Benchmarking on Steel Towers in South Africa’ study by manufacturing support organisation the Localisation Support Fund (LSF) was one of three studies done to map out the components of the Eskom and National Transmission Company build programmes and how to get industry to participate, said LSF head of strategy Irshaad Kathrada.