On 08 October 2026, the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (the dtic) reported significant achievements in investment and export targets while addressing various operational bottlenecks and audit challenges. The dtic made this announcement in its Annual Report for the 2025/2026 financial year during a briefing to the Portfolio Committee on Trade, Industry and Competition.
The dtic, led by Minister Parks Tau, confirmed that investment attractions into the country had nearly doubled, with industrial investment surpassing R31 billion against a R10 billion target and local procurement reaching R86 billion versus a R50 billion target.
According to Tau, the dtic is working to diversify markets through trade preferences with the European Union (EU), Southern African Development Community, BRICS Plus, the United States of America (US), the United Kingdom (UK) and the rest of the continent.
“Efforts are being made to strengthen export promotion for manufacturing, including Small, Medium, and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs) and black-owned enterprises. The dtic group aims to achieve targets despite global uncertainty, armed conflicts in Europe and the Middle East and attacks on rule-based trade structures,” he said.
The dtic told members that global exports had reached R142 billion, above the R120 billion target. In contrast, continental exports reached R146 billion, with SMME exports reaching R764 billion. The dtic further announced that the electricity one-stop shop unblocked Independent Power Producer (IPP) projects, surpassing targets threefold, with 38 projects reported in the same year.
“While facing significant headwinds, the department is shifting from crisis management to implementing a focused industrial development strategy. The goal is to move away from merely producing paper documents toward measuring actual outcomes for the South African economy. The revised industrial strategy that mainly focuses on Special Economic Zones (SEZs) and industry-specific Industrial Parks is an example of such,” added the minister.
Outlining sectoral and operational challenges, the dtic explained that manufacturing growth was slightly below 0.4%, compared to the 0.5% goal. At the same time, Industrial Parks’ progress was delayed due to funding constraints, with only ten out of 45 targeted parks being funded.
Tau indicated that the import reduction of rail and transport components was hindered by logistics crises requiring concessions to maintain immediate operations. At the same time, negotiations with the UK on electric vehicles are ongoing due to concerns about domestic capacity and future investment interest.
“Significant progress is being made in sectors like automotive through the Automotive Master Plan, but other industries face external pressure. Poultry is facing increased US demand and quota issues related to five asks from the US. The steel sector is dealing with increased tariffs that match those of the EU, constraining market access,” the minister said.
The dtic’s spending was driven by several high-value categories, with total expenditure primarily driven by industrial incentives totalling R9.1 billion, including the successful disbursement of R5 billion, and external programmes such as the Social Employment Fund, which included R1.3 billion, R41 million in members’ fees, and various transfers to non-profit organisations. The dtic further noted challenges regarding unqualified audits and the need to improve relations with other government departments to align programmes.