South Africa’s downstream fabricators and manufacturers are continuing to experience difficulties in securing steel and are also confronting rising prices, which could be partly attributed to the throttling of supply over the past few months. The Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (DTIC) is currently conducting a survey of steel consumers to assess the state of supply and the department’s Umeesha Naidoo tells Engineering News that responses have already been received from a number of merchants, re-rollers and downstream companies.