More than 150 submissions fed into Itac’s new proposal to raise steel duties to WTO-bound rates, add import permits and surveillance, and allow rebates for products not made locally.
Itac said the measures respond to an “emergency situation” driven by global overcapacity, cheap imports from China and India, weak demand, high energy and logistics costs, and customs fraud that has pushed landed prices below local production costs.
South Africa’s steel output has dropped from more than 9 million tonnes in 2005 to around half that level or less, while basic iron and steel employment has fallen from over 50,000 in 2009 to under half that by end-2025.
Rebate provisions would keep some rails, wire rods, pipes and heavy structural steel duty-free to avoid squeezing downstream fabricators, though BMW South Africa and Ford warned higher steel costs could still hurt vehicle export competitiveness.
Parliament’s trade committee backed tougher trade remedies but said tariffs alone will not revive the sector, urging a coordinated state-led plan covering procurement, electricity pricing, rail freight, financing and localization.
Will new tariffs save South Africa's steel industry, or will they cripple its globally competitive automotive export sector?
With tariffs now in place, can South Africa fix its severe energy and logistics crises fast enough to truly revive steel production?
South Africa’s Steel Crisis: Causes, Policy Responses, and the Urgent Path to Industrial Recovery
Overview
South Africa's steel sector is in a severe crisis, with the government treating the situation as an emergency. This crisis is made worse by global market changes, such as new steel import restrictions from the European Union and the United Kingdom. These restrictions have raised fears of steel dumping and diversion into South Africa, putting more pressure on local producers. In response, the International Trade Administration Commission (Itac) has recognized these challenges and made investigating them a top priority, launching key policy interventions to protect the domestic industry and stabilize the market.