Industrial Policy & Trade Monitor· 2662 actions· ✨ 89 recent

South African Cabinet on 25 June 2025 approved a three-part package to revitalise the domestic ferrochrome sector: (i) placement of chrome ore under export control via the International Trade Administration Commission (ITAC) under the International Trade Administration Act 71 of 2002, requiring an export permit prior to dispatch; (ii) initiation of work on a chrome ore export tax (rate not finalised; market reporting cites 25%); (iii) expanded SEZ incentives for ferrochrome smelters and a negotiated electricity- tariff relief mechanism. The DTIC notice formally placing chrome ore under export control was published in Government Gazette No. 53477 General Notice 6712 on 3 October 2025 with a 30-day public-comment window closing 31 October 2025; the final permit regime takes effect upon subsequent ministerial gazette notice. South Africa accounts for >70% of seaborne chrome ore exports, so the regime is globally material to stainless-steel supply chains.

On 6 February 2025 the South African Revenue Service updated its Prohibited and Restricted Imports and Exports list to require an International Trade Administration Commission (ITAC) export permit for a broad basket of base-metal tariff headings: 72.04 (excl. 7204.21), 7404.00, 72.05, 72.06, 72.07, 72.18, 72.24 (iron/steel waste, ingots, semi-finished and granules), 74.02, 74.03, 74.05, 74.06 (unrefined/refined copper and copper powders), 76.01, 76.03, 76.04 (unwrought aluminium, powders and bars), 78.01 (unwrought lead), 79.01 (unwrought zinc) and 80.01 (unwrought tin). The same update removed the export-permit requirement from six copper sub-headings (7403.12, 7403.13, 7403.19, 7403.21, 7403.22, 7403.29) and added several machinery tariff headings (8417.10, 8417.80, 8462-series) to the import-permit list.

South Africa's Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition, acting under sections 5 and 6 of the International Trade Administration Act 71 of 2002, published Government Gazette Notices R.2801-R.2804 (Gazette No. 47627, 30 November 2022). The notices impose a temporary six-month export ban (30 November 2022 - 30 May 2023) on ferrous and non-ferrous waste and scrap metal, suspend ITAC's Price Preference System for scrap metal for the same period, and introduce new export permit requirements on semi-finished metal products and import permit requirements on furnaces and scrap-melting machinery. The measure was framed as an emergency response to copper and scrap-metal theft from public infrastructure, estimated at roughly R47 billion a year.

SARS amended South Africa's Prohibited and Restricted Imports and Exports list on 2022-03-23 to add both import and export licensing requirements — administered with the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy — covering uranium ores and concentrates (HS 2612.10), molybdenum ores and concentrates (HS 2613.10), depleted-uranium transport containers and isotope projectors (HS 2844.10/20/30/40, 9022.19), nuclear-grade graphite, graphite blocks and graphite electrodes (HS 8545.11/19). Both directions of trade in these items now require a permit rather than moving freely across South African borders.

South Africa's Precious Metals Act 37 of 2005 establishes a standing, discretionary ministerial export-approval regime for platinum group metals. Section 12(2) provides that "no person may export any unwrought or semi-fabricated metals of the platinum group except with the written approval of the Minister which shall be granted subject to the promotion of equitable access to, and the orderly local beneficiation of such metals." The Act was assented to and published in the Government Gazette on 21 April 2006 (Act 37 of 2005) and commenced on 1 July 2007 per Presidential proclamation under s.25 (Government Gazette 30071 of 12 July 2007). South Africa supplies roughly 70-80% of global mined platinum, rhodium and iridium output, making this the register's first PGM-specific ZA export instrument (prior ZA filings — MPRDA 2002, the 2025 Mineral Resources Development Bill, IDS 2026 — are generic mining-law/industrial-policy instruments rather than PGM-specific export controls).