South Africa imposes safeguard duty on imports of hot-rolled steel

South Africa (South Africa) has notified the World Trade Organization that it will impose a 9% safeguard duty on imports of hot-rolled steel from all countries for a period of 200 days, starting from June 28 this year. This was reported by XA Global Trade Advisors.

The measure is aimed at protecting the local industry from the influx of imports. Developing countries will be exempt from the duty.

In February of this year, the South African Iron and Steel Institute (SAISI) filed an application on behalf of ArcelorMittal South Africa (AMSA), the largest producer of these products in the Southern African Customs Union (SACU). The South African Administrative Commission for International Trade then initiated a safeguard investigation into the hot-rolled steel products.

According to SAISI’s complaint, the SACU industry is suffering significant damage due to the recent sharp increase in imports of the products in question.

«Chinese steelmakers are aggressively exporting due to overcapacity and the economic downturn. This imbalance has led to an increase in exports from overcapacity countries. Chinese producers continue to increase exports at reduced prices to manage excess inventories,» the statement said.

In addition, it was pointed out that countries around the world are taking urgent measures to raise tariffs and introduce trade measures to protect their domestic steel industry.

The Commission’s investigation covered the period from July 2020 to June 2023. It found that SACU’s steel industry is facing significant challenges, such as a decline in sales, production, net profit, market share, capacity utilization and employment of the applicant, AMSA, due to increased imports of the products concerned.

The Commission decided to impose safeguard measures on hot-rolled products of iron, non-alloy steel or other alloy steel, except stainless steel, classified under subheadings 7208. 10, 7208.25, 7208.26, 7208.27, 7208.36, 7208.37, 7208.38, 7208.39, 7208.40, 7208.51, 7208.52, 7208.53, 7208.54, 7208.90, 7211.14, 7225.30, 7225.40, 7225.99 і 7226.99.

The tariffs will also be imposed on subheadings 7211.13, 7211.19 and 7226.91 to prevent any loopholes for imports of hot-rolled steel into the SACU.

As GMK Center reported earlier, in May, South Africa considered filing a formal complaint with the WTO against the EU’s “protectionist” cross-border carbon tax (CBAM).