CAPE TOWN: South Africa is considering imposing tariffs of as much as 50% on vehicles from China and India as it moves to protect its automotive industry from a flood of imports.<\/p>\n
An internal review is being conducted by the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition to assess potential measures to stem inbound shipments, which policymakers say are undermining domestic manufacturing.<\/p>\n
Among the options under consideration is an amendment to South Africa’s tariff schedule to bring import levies in line with World Trade Organization concessions for most-favoured nations, Ayabonga Cawe, the commissioner of the country’s International Trade Administration Commission, told lawmakers in Cape Town.<\/p>\n
“For completely built-up passenger vehicles, the bound rates there are at 50%, our duties at the moment are at around 25%,” Cawe said.<\/p>\n
“On components, there is some room to maneuver – depending on what the origin market is – of between 10% and 12%.”<\/p>\n
Shares of some Indian automakers declined on Wednesday, with Maruti Suzuki India Ltd and Hyundai Motor India Ltd dropping as much as 2.9% and 2.1% respectively.<\/p>\n
“Africa is the biggest export destination at Maruti Suzuki,” said Tatsuo Yoshida, a Bloomberg Intelligence analyst.<\/p>\n
“Given that South Africa is the largest automobile market in Africa, a significant portion of these exports is likely destined for South Africa. Higher tariffs will be negative for Maruti’s exports business.”<\/p>\n
China, India and South Africa are part of the BRICS group of developing nations, which has been working toward deepening trade ties between its members.<\/p>\n
Vehicles sourced from China and India – now the world’s two largest manufacturing hubs – accounted for 53% and 22% of South Africa’s total vehicle imports respectively in 2024.<\/p>\n
Vehicle shipments from China have surged 368% over the past four years, while those from India are up 135%. Competition has been fiercest in the entry-level segment of the market, with lower-priced imports compressing margins for domestic producers.<\/p>\n
The trade department is likely to consult the National Treasury on potential tax measures, including the introduction of excise duty on new luxury cars and a review of how rebate credit certificates function.<\/p>\n
The import levies may offer some relief to an industry that is also under pressure on the export front, after the United States imposed a 30% tariff on some goods from South Africa last year – the highest in sub-Saharan Africa.<\/p>\n
“The United States is South Africa’s third-largest automotive export destination, with 28.7 billion rand (RM7.19bil) in exports recorded in 2024,” said Mkhululi Mlota, chief director of automotives at the DTIC.<\/p>\n
The new United States tariff measures and uncertainty over eligibility for a possible 2028 extension of the African Growth and Opportunity Act – a preferential trade deal with the world’s largest economy – pose serious risks, he said.<\/p>\n
“These risks extend across the value chain, from component manufacturers to original equipment manufacturers’ export programs,” Mlota added.<\/p>\n
“The rise of China as a competitive producer of high-tech but more affordable vehicles is also intensifying competition for South African-produced vehicles in export markets.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CAPE TOWN: South Africa is considering imposing tariffs of as much as 50% on vehicles from China and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":257827,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[138,219,111,139,69],"class_list":{"0":"post-257826","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-economy","10":"tag-new-zealand","11":"tag-newzealand","12":"tag-nz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257826","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=257826"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257826\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/257827"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=257826"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=257826"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=257826"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}