The latest production data for November showed only a 2% increase in the sector for 2013, compared to 2012.
Seifsa chief economist Henk Langenhoven said in a statement: "....the latest production data for the steel and engineering sector released by Statistics SA follows a pattern that has been established over the last number of years, indicating improvements on the previous year during the first three-quarters of a year and then a relapse during the last quarter."
Positive trend
Confidence levels for growth for 2014, however, were showing a positive trend.
"The confidence level is now 128% higher than at the [bottom] trough [of 2009] and only 14% below the peak in 2007," Langenhoven said.
"The federation believes that the upturn in confidence levels augers well for real production growth for the steel and engineering sector during 2014."