Importers have been caught off guard by the breadth of South Africa’s latest steel tariff amendments, which extend beyond raw steel inputs to a range of finished and manufactured products.
Steel tariff amendments published by the International Trade Administration Commission (ITAC) signalled a shift towards greater protection of downstream manufactured steel products, customs expert Clifford Evans told the Port Liaison Forum (PLF), an initiative of the Cape Chamber of Commerce, last week.
ITAC’s Report 764, published in early May, introduced tariff amendments covering a broad range of steel-related products. On May 15, SARS published amendments to the tariff schedule affecting products that had been under investigation by ITAC for more than a year.
The review covered a range of commonly used products, including hand tools, saws and saw blades, hand-operated spanners and wrenches, knives with cutting blades, tubes and pipes, nails, corrugated nails and reinforced safes, Evans said.
“The importance of this is that over many years we have seen ITAC investigations mainly focused on raw materials like hot rolled coil and similar products. Now we are looking at downstream products, the actual finished manufactured items and a number of the products are now subject to increased import duties,” Evans said.
The ITAC report included a range of recommendations, covering a range of duties, rebates and import control measures. According to Evans, while the steel and textile industries have historically remained under close scrutiny by ITAC, the breadth of products included in the latest review had caught many importers by surprise.
“I don’t think it came as a major surprise that the steel sector was being investigated, but I do think people were surprised by the range of products now included,” he said.
SARS correction notice
A SARS correction notice published in the Government Gazette has substituted one tariff subheading included in the broader steel review, with retrospective effect from May 15.
The correction relates to tariff subheading 7307.19.90, which was included in the steel tariff amendments published earlier in May.
A separate amendment has increased the customs duty on imported rails from 5% to 10%, with effect from May 29. SARS published the amendment in Notice R 7533, following ITAC Report 751 on rails classified under tariff subheading 7302.10.
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