Trump’s tariff hikes hit SA steel companies
STEEL companies’ share prices took a knock on the JSE following the announcement late last week of President Donald Trump’s introduction of a 25 percent tariff on foreign steel, and 10 percent tariff on aluminium.
Trump said the countries exempted from the tariffs were Canada and Mexico.
South Africa was not included on the list.
Kumba Iron Ore was the most affected by the tariff announcement.
The share price declined to R280.15 on Friday morning, but later recovered to close at R293.57.
Kumba is a supplier of high quality iron ore to the global steel industry. It sells most of its steel to China.
Kumba reported its results for the year to end December last month, where headline earnings increased by 12 percent to R9.7 billion (R113.51bn), while headline earnings per share also increased 12 percent.
Another steel producer, Arcelor Mittal, was down 8.4 percent on Friday. It reached its lowest level on the day and closed at R2.40 a share.
Base minerals and metals company Assore was also down by more than 5 percent. The share declined to R307 a share, but recovered during the day to R308.99 and closed the day at 309.90.
Hulamin’s share price dropped 8.33 percent and closed at R4.40 on the JSE on Friday.