The International Trade Administration Commission of South Africa (ITAC) has confirmed that it has made a final determination in relation to a far-reaching review of steel tariffs and will now forward its report to Trade, Industry and Competition Minister Parks Tau.
The outcome, ITAC said in a Gazette notice, would be made public once the Minister had considered the report.
The review was launched in March and deals with chapters 72, 73, 82 and 83 of the Customs and Excise Act, which covers steel and stainless steel products where the combined yearly imports are valued at an estimated R66-billion.
Having received 150 comments by the initial comment deadline – including requests for duty increases to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) bound rate, the creation of rebate provisions, and the inclusion of specific products under import control – the commission published a preliminary determination on August 20 for further comment and received an additional 109 written submissions.
“The Commission has since made its final determination on all the areas published on 20 August 2025 and a report to this effect will be forwarded to the Minister for his consideration after which it will be made public.”
ITAC said the comments on the preliminary determination included additional requests for products to be considered for possible duty increases, as well as requests for additional rebate provisions to be created and for more products to be considered for addition on the import control list.
The November 21 Gazette notice thus includes a further call for comment on possible additional changes that are outlined in three tables, with the first table listing a further 20 products where the duty could be increased to the WTO bound rate of between 10% and 15%.
The second table outlines products that could be covered by the creation of proposed rebate provisions, while the third table lists products that could be subjected to import permit controls.
XA Global Trade Advisors said the notice implied that South Africa could increase the duties on an additional 20 steel tariff codes, in addition to the 105 from the original investigation; impose import control on another 49 steel tariff codes, in addition to the 392 from the original investigation; and rebate import duties on an additional 46 steel tariff codes.
Any submissions and/or comments regarding the proposed interventions must be sent to ITAC before 5 December 2025, by emailing submissions/comments to rmolala@itac.org.za / nsikhakhana@itac.org.za / pmatsepane@itac.org.za.
