Stainless Steel Digital Magazine!
We’re pleased to share the latest issue of Sassda’s Stainless Steel Magazine, an essential read for industry leaders navigating complex market dynamics in 2025. This edition offers critical analysis, strategic insights and future-focused perspectives on the challenges and opportunities shaping stainless steel in South Africa and beyond.
Featured stories include:
- The Taxing Truth About Tariffs – What new trade measures mean for competitiveness
- Water Security & Infrastructure – Why stainless steel is central to solving SA’s water crisis
- Corrosion at the Dead Sea – A case study in material performance under extreme conditions
- Columbus Stainless’s Pierre Rootman Profile – Strategic thinking from one of the sector’s key players
- Angola’s Growth Outlook – Energy investments fuelling regional stainless steel demand
- Cronimet’s 30-Year Journey – Long-term sustainability in practice
This edition is more than a snapshot - it’s a tool to help you plan, adapt, and lead in a shifting landscape. We invite you to engage with the content, share it with your teams and use it to inform your next move.
LATEST NEWS
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Fair Trade or Foul Play? The Taxing Truth About Trade Tariffs
Based on a large number of enquiries and understandable concern from our members, Sassda Executive Director Michel Basson unpacks the impact of tariffs and trade barriers on South Africa’s stainless steel value chain.
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Sassda calls for Urgent Action to Reindustralise South Africa's Economy
The Southern Africa Stainless Steel Development Association (Sassda) is calling for urgent action to protect and grow the country's stainless steel industry, which is facing severe challenges due to increasing imports of finished stainless steel goods and declining local manufacturing.
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2024 SASSDA & Columbus Stainless Awards celebrate Excellence in the South African Stainless Steel Industry
The 2024 Sassda & Columbus Stainless Awards Gala Dinner was held last night, marking a significant showcase of innovation, sustainability, and excellence within South Africa’s stainless steel sector. Attended by 200 industry professionals, including manufacturers, suppliers, fabricators and designers, the event heralded the return of these prestigious awards after a five year hiatus.
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Stainless Steel sector fights for right to supply Local Parastatal Projects
The use of local stainless steel is crucial to driving demand and the subsequent benefication of this highly prized metal, but work needs to be done to cement the correct specifications of South African stainless steel components in key strategic projects, states the Southern African Stainless Steel Development Association (Sassda).
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Sassda questions why SA stainless steel not first choice for local projects
Creating increased demand for South African stainless steel within key sectors such as mining, automotive and food and beverage is a key area of focus for the Southern Africa Stainless Steel Development Association (Sassda) in 2023. This was the view of Sassda Executive Director Michel Basson in a recent webinar on the ‘State of the Stainless Steel Nation’ where he provided a comprehensive local and global overview of the sector.
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Stainless Steel Industry remains resilient amid post-covid recovery
The levels of local stainless steel consumption have been declining for the past eight years, however, the industry remains buoyant after having seemingly recovered from the effects of the pandemic, says Southern Africa Stainless Steel Development Association (Sassda) acting executive director Michael Basson.
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New policy to ensure industry sustainability
In designing the Steel Master Plan (SMP), it is imperative to build consensus on a policy that can aid the creation of a competitive, dynamic and inclusive stainless steel industry, which can provide a stable platform for investment, growth and job creation, says Southern Africa Stainless Steel Development Association (Sassda) acting executive director Michel Basson.
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Could Nickel price volatility herald a new era in Stainless Steel Innovation?
One of the key components of stainless steel is nickel, which has recently felt the severe knock-on effects of the war in Ukraine. This is because Russia is the world's third-largest producer of nickel - a key ingredient in stainless steel and a major component in lithium-ion batteries
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Women's Economic Assembly Launch - 06 October 2021
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Association supports resilient industry through Master Plan
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Master Plan to Boost Local Market
Speaking on the steel master plan, which is a blueprint for the industry to re-energise itself and expand production, the Southern Africa Stainless Steel Development Association (Sassda) states that the broad structure demanded is in place and export councils are now working to boost the local stainless steel sector.
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Government and Stakeholders Sign Master Plan for the Steel and Metal Fabricator Sector
The Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition, Ebrahim Patel, along with industry stakeholders from the steel and metal fabrication sector signed a Master Plan for the sector on Friday 11 June 2021. The Master Plan, which has been developed in consultation with all stakeholders from the industry – including primary steel producers, downstream steel players, met fabricators, and organised labour – provides a blueprint for the industry to re-energise itself and expand production.
The Steel Master Plan
At this difficult and unprecedented stage in the history of the world, our country and industry; Sassda is working with the Department of Trade Industry and Competition (dtic) as major partner to alleviate pressure in, and create positive outcomes for, the stainless steel sector. We are therefore committed to keep you up to date with the latest news regarding new developments.
Stainless Hotspots for Growth
As part of the latest phase of the Steel Master Plan development, the Department of Trade Industry & Competition is investigating proposals from industry including ourselves regarding initiatives to kick start industry. Sassda has therefore supplied proposals around the gas field developments in Mozambique and increased domestic LPG/LNG gas use in South Africa as well as import replacements and the rejuvenation of the local hollowware sector.
Economic Policy Dialogue African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCTA)
Sassda recently attended the dti’s Economic Policy Dialogue on the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) which aims at providing a single continental market for goods and services, with free movement of people and investments. Its goal is to boost Intra-Africa trade from an existing level of about 13% to 25% or more over the next decade, thus contributing to economic growth and attracting investments from both within Africa and the world.
Lets’s Talk about Tariffs…
When it comes to the minefield of trade tariffs, Sassda is not a policy creator or implementer but rather acts as an invaluable facilitator based on its strong relationships with the relevant government bodies, to ensure all our members’ interests are equitably represented in an independent and objective manner. Tariffs expert and Sassda Market Intelligence Specialist Lesley Squires explains how this complex relationship works.
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Sassda’s Input for Steel Master Plan to Ebrahim Patel
In an effort to fulfil our purpose statement, and with the current lack of projects within South Africa, we have been actively working with Trade Export South Africa and subsequently the Trade Invest Africa units of the dti to facilitate trade between South Africa and other countries on the African Continent. Our particular focus is Africa as the nature of our members’ products tend to be large and therefore logistical costs hamper a lot of exports to the rest of the world.
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