Johannesburg-listed steel maker, Evraz Highveld Steel (Evraz), on Tuesday said infrastructure projects in Nigeria, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia and Mozambique remained a critical growing market for the steel industry.

But the cutthroat competition from global steel makers in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) had kept pricing in these markets under pressure and in keeping with international tendencies.

In addition, the sluggish speed with which large infrastructure projects have been carried out in South Africa, an explosive labour market, energy tariff hikes and power supply worries continued to create problems for domestic steel industry, Evraz said.

Evraz made these comments as it posted a R105 million net loss in the first quarter of this year.

This happened at a time the global economy remained weak in the first quarter of this year. The global economy has also not reached the growth levels needed to prompt adequate demand for steel, it said.

However, it is likely that the global steel demand will this year grow by 3.1 percent to 1475 Mt, the firm said.