S. Africa's lifting of import duty splits steelmakers

S. Africa’s lifting of import duty splits steelmakers

South African steel producer Highveld Steel and Vanadium, unlike Ispat Iscor, remained indifferent to the government's decision to lift duties on steel imports from Russia and Ukraine. Highveld asserted that the expiry of the duties will not cause any injury to the domestic market since the steel products imported from Russia and Ukraine were poor in quality. On the other hand, Ispat Iscor implored the government to continue with the duties. Ispat Iscor claims that the expiry of the duties will allow Russia and Ukraine to resume dumping activities in the South African market. The government had implemented hefty duties on hot rolled flat steel products imported from Russian producer Severstal and Ukrainian producer Illych in November 1999.