HCMC – Vietnam is among the countries excluded from South Africa’s provisional safeguard tariffs on steel coil, as its import volume falls below the 3% threshold required for such measures.
Under World Trade Organization (WTO) rules, developing countries with an individual import share of less than 3%, and whose combined imports do not exceed 9%, may be exempt from safeguard actions.
According to the Trade Remedies Authority of Vietnam, the preliminary result will help Vietnamese businesses continue exporting corrosion-resistant steel products to the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) in the near future.
Therefore, companies and industry associations are advised to closely monitor the case until a final decision is issued.
The investigated product is corrosion-resistant steel coil, classified under South Africa’s import tariff codes 7210.61.20, 7210.61.30, 7225.92.25, and 7225.92.35. The investigation was officially initiated on January 17.
Previously, the case had been launched on December 27, 2024, but was subsequently terminated and reinitiated on the same day. The investigation period spans from May 2021 to April 2024.
In its preliminary findings, the International Trade Administration Commission of South Africa (ITAC) said that import volumes saw a sharp, sudden, and clearly defined increase during the investigation period, rising by 17.16% from 2022 to 2023. The majority of these imports originated from China.
The SACU domestic industry suffered serious injury during the investigation period, with key indicators such as production output, domestic sales, profits, market share, capacity utilization, and employment all experiencing significant declines.
Factors such as declining steel demand, reduced infrastructure investment, rising input costs, logistics constraints, and energy supply issues were not considered the direct causes of the injury to the domestic industry.
Based on these findings, the ITAC proposed a provisional safeguard duty of 52.34% for a period of 200 days, pending the final conclusion of the case.
