Steel distribution and processing company Duferco Distribution Services’ steel sales have increased by about 300% since January last year, as more industries, such as mining, transport, recycling and cement, are expressing interest in and buying its Quard and Quend steel, S355 and pressure vessel plates.

The company plans to introduce new quench and tempered steel products of thinner gauge onto the market this year. The products, the Quard 400, 450 and 500 will be offered in thicknesses of 3 mm to 6 mm and in coil form.

The Quard steel is available in various degrees of hardness – 400 HBW, 450 HBW and 500 HBW – according to the Brinell hardness scale, while the Quend steel has a high-yield strength of 700 kPa.

“These materials have become quite popular, as they have proven to be quite a reliable material with regard to the requirements of cutting, bending, welding and rolling,” says Duferco Distribution Services GM Anton van den Berg, adding that demand for the products is increasing.

The Quard and Quend steel products are manufactured by Belgium-based steel company NLMK Clabecq and were launched at bauma Africa, the international trade fair for construction machinery, building materials machines, mining machines and construction vehicles, last year. Duferco Distribution Services is the appointed distributor for Clabecq steel products and the Quard and Quend steels in South Africa and Africa.

While the current market norm for the maximum width of steel plates is about 2.5 m, the company will be the first steel distributor to introduce onto the South African market quench and tempered steel materials in a width of 3 m, as NLMK Clabecq’s Belgium-based facility can provide steel plates of up to 3.1 m in width, says Van den Berg.

“As we are the only distributor of the 3-m- wide plates, it will convey a significant change in the market for Duferco,” he adds.

The abrasion-resistant Quard 400 HBW and Quard 450 HBW steel products can be used in applications such as cement drum mixer barrels, feeders, skips, screw conveyors, mining and earthmoving machinery, crushing and pulverising equipment, excavators and slurry pipe systems, while the extra-strength, high-yield Quend steel 700 can be used in lifting and hoisting equipment, trailers, handling equipment and truck chassis.

Duferco Distribution Services’ other services include materials cut to size, high-definition plasma cutting, bending, rolling, the chamfering of cutting edges, the drilling and countersinking of holes for wear plates, and computer numerically controlled profile cutting.

Expansions

Duferco Distribution Services aims to expand throughout South Africa and proposes service agreements with service providers to provide the Quard and Quend steel plates, and to expand further into the Southern African market, including Botswana, Zambia, Tanzania, Mozambique and Namibia.

The company is also investigating the further expansion and distribution of hot-rolled and cold-rolled coils through its subsidiaries, he notes.

However, a current key challenge for Duferco Distribution Services is the volatile mining sector, strikes and continuous wage disputes, as the mining industry is a key focus point and market for the company’s materials, Van den Berg says.

He adds that another challenge includes the current depreciation of the rand and euro exchange rates, as all the company’s materials are imported.