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Stakeholders seek end to steel importation

By BusinessNews Staff on April 27, 2014

Steel manufacturers have said there is no need to import iron and steel materials anymore as local manufacturing of the products has improved tremendously and can meet the annual demand of the country.

The Managing Director of Real Infrastructure Nigeria Limited, Mr. Subhash Gupta, stated this during a facility tour of his factory in Lagos by the Standards Organisation of Nigeria’s technical team.

According to Gupta, the country has an annual requirement of about 1.8 million metric tonnes and currently, local production has the capacity to produce what is needed.

He said, “The steel industry in Nigeria has a bright future due to lots of construction activities currently going on in the country; steel and cement are some of the basic raw materials for any infrastructural development of a nation.

“As far as my company is concerned, we are making international quality reinforcement bars to meet the consumers’ need. The major challenge facing the industry is power because the required amount of power needed to boost our operations is still low for this industry.”

According to him, SON’s regulatory and supervisory role has created a positive impact on steel production, making manufacturers to adhere to international standards.

This, he stressed, had led to expansion in terms of output.

“Three years ago, we were very small but presently, we have grown about four times bigger than before,” he said.

The Managing Director, Monarch Steel Limited, Mr. Gupta Prakash, however, said that despite the potential of the sector, electricity had remained a major setback which should be addressed urgently.

He said the cost created unhealthy competition between the local industry and those of other countries, adding that if the government could guarantee stable electricity supply, the industry would survive.

“Power is the biggest issue for the industrial sector. There is no doubt that the quality of steel produced in Nigeria compares favourably with what is produced in any other part of the world because most steel factories here have imbibed the latest cutting edge technology required for steel production in the country,” he said.

The SON’s Director-General, Dr. Joseph Odumodu, while commending the steel companies for consistently meeting the specifications of the Nigerian Industrial Standards, said locally produced steel was gradually becoming the first choice for international and local construction companies.

He said despite all the challenges faced by steel operators in the country, some of the companies had been able to do things the right way.

“My visit is a way to express my profound appreciation and share the successes of companies that have done well in the steel sector,” he said.

According to Odumodu, the annual requirement for enforcement bars in Nigeria is about 1.8 million metric tonnes, and the industry’s installed capacity can meet the demand for steel in the country.

He said, “The operators are saying that they have a challenge of using only 75 per cent of this number. As a result of this, we have an opportunity to import some of these products but what we are saying is that the locally produced ones already have a set of criteria like the identification marks but some of these products imported into the country do not have identification marks making it difficult for traceability.

“A directive was given in 2010 that there should be a code on every reinforcement bar in the country and we gave enough extension. What we are saying now is that there is no room for further extension; every reinforcement bar, irrespective of where it comes from, must have identification marks acceptable to SON.”

He said this would help SON to trace the products to the manufacturers at any point in time whether in a failed building or market.

Odumodu stated that the new industrial policy of the Federal Government would give steel operators in the country comparative advantage in the global market.

He added that the Federal Government’s interest was in backward integration and also promoting a lot of incentives for steel operators to thrive.

“Our mandate is to ensure that locally manufactured goods in Nigeria give the required satisfaction to consumers through compliance with government policies on standardisation and conformity assessment. We also make sure that goods imported into Nigeria meet the minimum requirements of the NIS or any other international standards,” he said.

[Punch]

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