Steel Distribution Introduction The Eastern Cape steel industry is centred on the automotive industry and has a strong base in Port Elizabeth and East London. Potential for further grows lies in both the Coega and East London IDZs which has opportunities to develop downstream metals and engineering industries, based on strong growth in the auto trade and in exports, but also with opportunities in machine tools and industrial machinery.
Apart from the automotive sector
the metals industry in the Eastern Cape is also concentrated in
the manufacturing of industrial machinery, tools and around the
marine repair and engineering sector. Smaller downstream
players are mostly involved in the supply and distribution of
galvanised and steel tubing. Though relatively small, the industry is expected to grow as a result of current growth and expansion in the automotive sector. In 1999, metal and steel enterprises in the province amounted to over 160 enterprises broken as follows: · Large scale enterprises (200+ employees) – 8 · Medium scale enterprises ( 50 - 200 employees) – 20 · Small scale enterprises (0 – 50 employees) - 136
Opportunities Opportunities identified by the Eastern Cape Development Corporation (ECDC) and to be further developed include:
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