Hot rolling at the Columbus Mill is done at between 1000oC and 1300oC heat on reversing four-high mills
General business conditions for 2017 were good, says Bertus Griesel, Columbus Stainless’s General Manager Commercial, with the company making small but solid improvements on sales for the year in 2017, with consolidation of current business as its primary objective. Columbus managed to conclude 9% more business in 2017 when compared with 2016.
Columbus has recently embarked on a strategy of sales consolidation, an approach that yielded good results. “We have seen good growth in Europe and Columbus has set aggressive targets for 2018,” says Griesel.
There is excessive capacity coming mainly from developments in China and this causes huge quantities of exported material when the Chinese market weakens. Trade barriers against China have been established in Europe, the US and India and forced Chinese exports into other areas of the world. These exports volumes lead to depressed prices in these markets.
The increased volume in Chinese exports in areas such as Latin America and the Middle East has introduced Columbus to the fierce battle of competing with the traders of Chinese exported material. While this is tough it has allowed Columbus to benchmark itself against intense competition.
Although Columbus’s 2017 sales were better than 2016, the growth was export driven as South African apparent consumption continued to decline.
Available credit was tight, which made trade in stainless steel and similar products difficult. This reflected in Columbus’s local sales volumes, which have decreased by about 5% from the previous year. This drop was reflected in the entire South African market caused by poor local economic conditions.
Manufacturing as a sector remained under pressure, felt specifically by the tanktainer sector as they compete with cheap Chinese manufacturers on a worldwide basis. Efforts are being made by Columbus to increase opportunities for South African companies to grow their business activities.
Columbus’s overall stainless steel product sales rose 9% in 2017 from 2016 despite a depressed market and increasing pressure from Asia
Columbus in support of the stainless steel downstream industry will continue to aid localisation initiatives, paying ongoing attention to the automotive, tanktainer and any other industry that can compete on an international basis.
Columbus’s initiatives to penetrate the rest of Africa progressed well in 2017. Supplying material to other African countries is not easy and Columbus has accepted some orders for material that is very difficult to produce. Working with its local and other partners, specific attention is given to this initiative and increased sales have been realised. Political stability remains a key component for sustainable business and recent developments in South Africa and Zimbabwe promise to generate opportunities.
Imports into South Africa remained a challenge in 2017, placing pressure on local production. South African industry was awarded an import duty of 5% on all the products that it produces, which aims to minimise the price gap from dumped material thereby encouraging fair competition. Columbus also had to make price adjustments to retain, and in some cases recover, lost market share. This has led to some success.
Columbus, however, remains concerned about the increase in imported finished goods. The company supports efforts in protecting the downstream beneficiation of stainless steel, as importing of finished products cripples manufacturing in South Africa, resulting in job losses or lost opportunities for job creation.
Columbus had good successes in 2017 and looks forward to 2018 with expectations for better business and improved customer service.
