The South African Government welcomed the decision by the People’s Republic of China (China) to substantially reduce customs duty rates on imports of South African rooibos tea.
Rooibos tea is a unique South African tea that has gained a strong foothold in global markets with hundreds of millions of rands of annual exports in 2022. South Africa led efforts at the World Customs Organization (WCO) for a specific commodity code (tariff subheading) applicable only for rooibos tea.
China, the world’s largest tea market, previously had tariffs ranging from 15% ad valorem to 30% ad valorem on rooibos tea. This has now been reduced to 6% ad valorem.
In August 2023, South Africa’s Trade, Industry and Competition Minister raised the tariff duties on rooibos tea with his counterpart, the Chinese Commerce Minister of Commerce, during the 8th meeting of the China-South Africa Joint Economic and Trade Commission. The Minister requested that China considers a request to reclassify rooibos tea and to reduce the duties. Following further consideration from the Chinese side, the Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council of China advised that it would be adopting the new tariff code of the WCO to categorise rooibos tea under tariff subheading 1211.90.39 with a customs duty rate of 6% ad valorem.
According to the Rooibos Council of South Africa, approximately 20 000 tonnes of rooibos is produced in South Africa every year, generating employment for more than 5 000 people. China featured as the 7th largest recipient market in 2023 for South African rooibos out of a total of 45 countries currently importing rooibos tea.
The Minister welcomed the decision by the Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council of China.
Commenting on the decision, the Minister said: “Our rooibos tea is refreshing, delicious and healthy. This decision will enable more South African rooibos tea to be available to Chinese tea drinkers, creating more jobs in South Africa. Rooibos exporters can now ramp up their exports of tea to China. China is currently South Africa’s largest global trading partner, with Chinese customs reporting two-way trade of more than R900 billion. We look forward to continuing our engagements with our Chinese counterparts as we seek to shift our exports from mainly minerals to a greater basket of value-added agricultural and industrial products. I wish to commend Minister Thoko Didiza and her team for the close collaboration and hard work to get this decision finalised.”
