Industrial Policy & Trade Monitor· 2665 actions· ✨ 90 recent

South Africa's International Trade Administration Commission (ITAC), acting on an application from Hall Longmore (the majority SACU producer of the product), issued a preliminary determination of dumping and recommended that SARS impose a provisional anti-dumping duty of 28.86% on large-diameter (external diameter >406.4mm) welded circular steel tubes and pipes of iron or steel (HS 7305.19, excluding longitudinally submerged arc-welded and longitudinally welded pipes) originating in or imported from Mozambique. SARS gave effect to the duty via Government Gazette 54854, Notice R.7606 (19 June 2026), amending Part 1 of Schedule No. 2 to the Customs and Excise Act, 1964, effective for six months up to and including 18 December 2026 while ITAC's investigation continues (ITAC Report No. 779).

On 9 May 2026 Mozambique's Assembleia da República approved, by consensus of all four parliamentary caucuses under an urgency procedure submitted by President Daniel Chapo, a standalone Lei de Conteúdo Local establishing the legislative-level local-content framework for the country's petroleum and natural gas megaprojects. The law was promulgated on 5 June 2026. It defines goods and services as qualifying local content when they meet at least one of three thresholds: ≥80% national production factors, ≥40% Mozambican company ownership, or a predominantly Mozambican payroll. It mandates integration of national labour, preference for Mozambican subcontractors and goods-and-services suppliers, and creates a dedicated Local Content Agency (Agência de Conteúdo Local) to oversee compliance and enforce penalties. Primary application: TotalEnergies Area 1 (Mozambique LNG) and ExxonMobil/Eni Area 4 (Rovuma LNG / Coral South).

The Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council announced on April 28, 2026 that China will extend zero-tariff treatment (preferential tariff rate of 0%) to all 53 African countries with which it maintains diplomatic relations, effective May 1, 2026 through April 30, 2028. The measure adds 20 African non-LDC nations to the existing zero-tariff scheme already covering 33 African LDCs since December 2024, making China the first major economy to grant full-coverage zero-tariff access to all African diplomatic partners. Coverage extends to all tariff lines except out-of-quota products (where only in-quota rates move to zero); eSwatini is excluded as it maintains diplomatic relations with Taiwan rather than the PRC.

Mozambique's National Mining Institute (INAMI) presented a draft revision of the country's mining law for public consultation, with parliamentary debate scheduled for 7 May 2026. The bill mandates that the state hold a minimum 15% equity stake in all mining projects (raisable on a project-by-project basis), reserves "strategic minerals" exclusively for the state mining company Empresa Nacional de Minas (ENM), prohibits the export of unprocessed minerals (forcing in-country processing), caps concessions at 25 years, and channels 10% of mining revenues to a local development fund for the province, district, and community where operations occur. Implementation is not expected before 2027 to allow development of secondary regulations and ENM institutional build-out. This is the flagship economic-policy instrument of President Daniel Chapo's January 2025 mining and oil/gas restructuring agenda.

Mozambique's Council of Ministers, at its 6th Ordinary Session on 3 March 2026, approved resolutions establishing two Interministerial Coordination Committees — one for the Development Plan of Area 1 of the Rovuma Block (the TotalEnergies-led Mozambique LNG project, formerly Anadarko) and one for Area 4 of the Rovuma Block (the ExxonMobil/Eni-led Rovuma LNG / Coral South / Coral Norte projects). Both committees are chaired by the Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy and include the ministers of finance, economy, transport and logistics, labour, and land and environment, plus INP, the Tax Authority, and the Bank of Mozambique as technical participants. The mandate is to monitor and ensure the rapid, coordinated government assessment of amendments to the development plans for these projects, which together represent approximately USD 50bn+ in committed capital in Cabo Delgado province and are the primary drivers of Mozambique's projected fiscal revenue stream through 2060+.

Mozambique's Council of Ministers, at its 39th Ordinary Session on 18 November 2025, approved the terms and conditions of a concession contract granting a state-company consortium the exclusive right to finance, construct, import, and operate (i) a floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) LNG terminal at Beira and Inhassoro (Inhambane province), and (ii) the 865-km ROMPCO gas pipeline connecting Mozambican gas fields to South Africa via Komatipoort — both for a 30-year concession term. The concessionaire is a Specific Object Entity (Entidade de Objecto Específico, EOE) constituted by four state enterprises — the National Hydrocarbon Company (ENH, E.P.), Mozambique Ports & Railways (CFM), Mozambique Electricity (EDM), and Cahora Bassa Hydroelectric (HCB) — plus government-selected technical and financial partners. The decree marks the first midstream LNG infrastructure-rights award in Mozambique and represents a foundational shift toward state-led control of the country's regasification and cross-border pipeline architecture rather than concession to international IOCs.

Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) signed a loan agreement, announced 2025-08-21 (signed 2025-08-20), providing up to USD 14 million (JBIC's portion) toward a USD 24 million total co-financing package with Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation for ETC Group Limited, a Mauritius-based company backed by Mitsui & Co., Ltd. The loan funds liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) operations conducted through ETG Energy, ETC Group's wholly owned subsidiary, across Zambia, South Africa, Mozambique, and Uganda. JBIC explicitly framed the financing as supporting Japanese overseas business expansion and enabling a household-fuel transition from charcoal to LPG aligned with the recipient countries' Paris Agreement emissions commitments.

At its 34th session in Harare on 5 June 2025, the SADC Committee of Ministers of Trade formally endorsed Angola's accession to the SADC Free Trade Area after Angola submitted its final tariff offer covering 90% of tariff lines — surpassing the SADC standard threshold of 85%. Angola becomes the 14th SADC member state to join the FTA, with implementation targeted for January 2026. The accession ends Angola's longstanding outlier status as the region's second-largest economy operating outside the bloc's duty-free zone, and opens tariff-free corridors between Angola and FTA members including South Africa, Zambia, DRC, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique.

Mozambique's Ministry of Mineral Resources and Energy (MIREME) published a comprehensive revision of the 2014 Petroleum Law (Lei n.º 21/2014) in June 2025, tabled before the Assembleia da República for debate on 7 May 2026. The revision mandates a minimum 25% domestic-market quota for all oil, gas, and LNG produced under concessions (exclusively for national consumption), requires 100% of condensate output to be allocated domestically, and introduces idle-block penalty charges for concessionaires that fail to develop assigned blocks within prescribed periods. It also elevates the Instituto Nacional de Petróleo (INP) to full Regulatory Authority status with inspection and sanctioning powers, and establishes a mandatory minimum state Participating Interest with a free-carry obligation through to commercial production.

On 5 July 2024 Mozambique's Ministry of Mineral Resources and Energy (MIREME) issued Diploma Ministerial nº 55/2024, the first regulation to operationalise the local-content obligations of petroleum-sector concessionaires that were set in skeleton form by Lei nº 21/2014 (Petroleum Law) and Decreto nº 34/2015 (Regulamento das Operações Petrolíferas). The diploma binds concessionaires across four pillars: Employment Programmes, Training/Education Programmes, Association with Mozambican Persons, and Right of Preference in the Contracting of Goods and Services. Quarterly Employment, Education and Hiring Reports must be filed with the Instituto Nacional do Petróleo (INP). Published in Boletim da República I Série Nº 130 and effective the day of publication.

Law No. 2 of 11 January 2024 (Gazzetta Ufficiale Serie Generale n. 10 of 13 January 2024, in force 14 January 2024) converts with amendments Decreto-Legge 15 November 2023, n. 161 ("Disposizioni urgenti per il «Piano Mattei» per lo sviluppo in Stati del Continente africano") into permanent law. The statute establishes Italy's first formal Africa-policy framework: a four-year strategic plan adopted by Presidential Decree (subject to parliamentary opinion), a Steering Committee ("Cabina di Regia") at Palazzo Chigi chaired by the Prime Minister, and a Mission Structure inside the Presidency to coordinate implementation. The Plan organises intervention along five thematic pillars (education/training, health, agriculture, water, energy / climate-energy nexus) across an initial nine pilot countries — Algeria, Côte d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique, Republic of Congo, and Tunisia — with an announced ~EUR 5.5bn envelope drawn primarily from the Italian Climate Fund (~EUR 3bn) and pre-existing development-cooperation resources (~EUR 2.5bn). Positions Italy as a transit corridor and industrial gateway between African resources and EU industry, layering onto the EU Global Gateway / Critical Raw Materials Act perimeter.