OECD/South Africa workshop on Steelmaking Raw Materials – OECD

11 December 2014 – Cape Town, South Africa

The meeting took place at the Lagoon Beach Hotel in Cape Town. 

Background

Steel is one of the most widely produced industrial products in the world, and the sector depends heavily on a range of raw materials for its production. Developments in steelmaking raw material markets and policies are receiving increasing attention by governments and industry alike. Strong steel production growth over the past decade has resulted in sharp increases in demand for raw materials. Considerable new investment in specific types of steelmaking production processes will have important implications for the future supply-demand balances of steelmaking raw materials. At the same time, governments appear to be increasingly prone to using export restrictions on raw materials in an attempt to increase the domestic value added obtained from the mineral sector or to counter the presence of negative spillovers from mineral extraction such as illegal exports or environmental degradation. It is important for the steel industry to keep track of the evolution of raw material markets and related trade policy changes, given that these developments can have important implications for global steel markets through the supply chain. As a result, governments participating in the OECD Steel Committee organised a workshop jointly with South Africa’s Department of Trade and Industry on 11 December 2014, to examine emerging market and policy issues in the field of steelmaking raw materials. 

Purpose 

This workshop brought together government and industry representatives from raw material importing and exporting economies to assess emerging market trends and policy developments affecting trade in steelmaking raw materials. The aim of the workshop was to better understand the impacts of trade-restrictive raw material policies on the global steel industry and to explore policy approaches that would improve the longer-term efficiency and functioning of these markets.

Who attended?

The conference attracted leading experts on steel raw materials, as well as policy makers from OECD member countries and partners.

‌Documents

» Agenda

» Background paper

» Presentations

Contact

For more information, please contact:
steel@oecd.org