Head-scratching cabinet statement on ferrochrome does not inspire confidence

Last week’s cabinet statement contained a couple of interesting lines that had the SA chrome ore and ferrochrome industry abuzz.

No, it wasn’t the bit about the cabinet backing a proposed tariff on chrome ore exports to support the domestic ferrochrome industry.

That by itself was interesting enough because, honestly speaking, the problem with SA’s ailing and failing ferrochrome industry isn’t really getting its hands on the feedstock, but how terribly expensive electricity has become, increasing in cost sixfold in little more than a decade.

Be that as it may, the statement had a few far more interesting lines and it also concerned the domestic ferrochrome industry.

The cabinet statement was drawn up by people who lead the country, and one of them is the head of regulating and policing the resources sector. Another focuses intently on the industrial sector, including steel manufacture and car making.

So, it’s a bit worrying when the statement says the SA ferrochrome sector is “the largest global producer of ferrochrome and is the only stainless-steel producer. It is the biggest supplier of stainless steel to the automotive industry.”

Leaving aside for a minute that China is about 50% bigger than SA in ferrochrome production, hence all the chrome ore exports from SA to that country, a problem is the concept that the industry here is the only stainless steel producer.

Ferrochrome is used to make stainless steel. Ferrochrome makers do not make stainless steel. That’s up to steel makers. And that the ferrochrome industry is the largest source of stainless steel to the automotive industry is another glaring inaccuracy. It’s not as bad as the “hazenile” hoax mineral that mineral resources and energy minister Gwede Mantashe punted at an Australian mining conference in 2019, but it’s not too far behind.

How can the ferrochrome industry and the chrome ore producers take this statement seriously? ​