On August 22, trade remedy history was made – the International Trade Administration Commission of South Africa (Itac) informed of the initiation of an investigation into the alleged dumping of portland cement, classifiable under tariff subheading 2523.29, originating in or imported from Pakistan. This product is allegedly being dumped on the Southern African Customs Union (Sacu) market, causing material injury to the cement industry in the region. The application was lodged by Afrisam South Africa, Lafarge Industries South Africa, NPC Cimpor and PPC, which submitted sufficient evidence and established a prima facie case to enable Itac to arrive at the conclusion that an investigation should be initiated on the basis of dumping, material injury and/or threat of material injury and causality.

Rewind just over 91 years ago – to December 11, 1922 – when the Board of Trade and Industries, the predecessor of Itac, was asked by the commissioner of customs to conduct an inquiry into the alleged dumping of cement into the Union of South Africa and to determine whether dumping duties should be applied. On October 11, 1922, the commissioner recommended the application of dumping duties against cement imported from Belgium, Denmark, Norway and the UK. This recommendation was rejected by the Minister of Finance on October 20, 1922. At the time of the commissioner of customs’ investigation, the Board of Trade and Industries “[was] not able to deal with the matter”. The board’s recommendations are contained in its Report No 30, titled ‘The Dumping of Cement’, dated November 28, 1923.

In the latest application, the allegation of dumping is based on the comparison between the normal value in Pakistan and the export price from Pakistan. The domestic selling price for Pakistan was determined based on a report by Genesis Analytics, titled ‘Pakistan cement price data for January 2013 to December 2013’. The export price for Pakistan was determined based on the official South African Revenue Service (Sars) import statistics. The dumping margin for Pakistan was determined to be 48%. On this basis, Itac found that there was prima facie proof of dumping.

The application targeted ‘portland cement’, whether in ‘bulk’ or ‘bagged cement’. Although the applicant provided injury information for the subject product, ‘portland cement’, it requested Itac to focus the analysis of injury on ‘bagged cement’ owing to a number of substantiated reasons.
The period of the investigation for purposes of determining the dumping in the country of origin will be January 1, 2013, to December 31, 2013. The period of investigation for purposes of determining material injury and/or a threat of material injury will be from January 1, 2010, to December 31, 2013. Comment is due by October 2.

Caustic Soda Investigation
Itac informed on August 22 of the creation of a rebate provision on sodium hydroxide (caustic soda) in aqueous solution (soda lye or liquid soda), classifiable in tariff subheading 2815.12, for use in the manufacture of sodium hypo chlorite solution, classifiable in tariff subheading 2828.90.

The application was lodged by NCP Chlorchem, which argued that the product in question is not manufactured in sufficient quantities in the Sacu market. Comment is due by September 19.

Iron/Steel Wire Customs Duty Increase
On August 22, Sars informed of the increase in the ‘general’ rate of customs duty on wire of iron or nonalloy steel, plated or clad with other base metals, classifiable under tariff subheading 7217.30, from free of customs duty to 10% ad valorem.

Itac initiated the application on April 17 following the application received from Natstan Wire, of Uitenhage, in the Eastern Cape, which argued that, since the import (customs) duties on wire products were removed, the Sacu market had lost substantial business owing to the low landed price of competing imported beadwire products. Though the Government Gazette did not specify a period for comment, it is believed the deadline was May 15.

Vitrifiable Enamels Tariff
On August 22, Sars informed of the substitution of tariff subheading 3207.20, dealing with “vitrifiable enamels and glazes, engobes (slips) and similar preparations”, and the insertion of tariff subheadings 3207.20.10, dealing with “vitrifiable enamels and similar preparations”, and 3207.20.20, dealing with “vitrifiable glazes, engobes (slips) and similar preparations”. The ‘general’ rate of duty on tariff subheading 3207.20.10 was set at 5% ad valorem, while the remaining rate of duty was free.

The application was initiated by Itac through a Government Gazette notice published on February 21. The application was lodged by Ferro Industrial Products, which argued that it was experiencing increasing competition from imports, predominantly from Turkey, and that these imports landed at prices far below local prices and, in some cases, below international prices. The applicant believed that it was running the risk of industry closure because of an unrelenting loss of market share. Comment was due by March 21 (Human Rights Day).

Customs Control Bill
On August 4, Sars published what it called “the second batch” of draft rules proposed under Chapter 11 to Chapter 20 and Chapter 24 of the Customs Control Act, 2014 (Act No 31 of 2014). The chapter descriptions are: Chapter 11, transhipment procedure; Chapter 12, temporary admission procedure; Chapter 13, warehousing procedure; Chapter 14, tax-free shop procedure; Chapter 15, stores procedure; Chapter 16, export procedure; Chapter 17, temporary export procedure; Chapter 18, inward processing procedure; Chapter 19, home use processing procedure; Chapter 20, outward processing procedure; and Chapter 24, expedited clearance and release of goods. Comments are to be provided on a comment-sheet template by no later than September 26.

Nuclear Vessel Licence Application
On August 22, a notice was published of Eskom’s application for a nuclear vessel licence in terms of Section 21(3) of the National Nuclear Regulator Act 47 of 1999. The application was made to enable a non-nuclear-powered vessel to dock in the Cape Town harbour over the period November 2014 to December 2014 for the purposes of transporting nuclear fuel destined for the Koeberg nuclear power station.

Comment is due by September 22.