Most imported newsprint now carries a 5% customs duty, after the International Trade Administration Commission (Itac) backed Sappi’s bid to protect the newsprint machine at its Ngodwana mill in Mpumalanga from cheaper imports.
The general rate of duty on newsprint in rolls or sheets went from 0% to 5% on 16 October, under a tariff amendment signed by finance minister Enoch Godongwana and published by the South African Revenue Service (Sars). Itac, which recommended the increase, set out its reasons in a statement on Tuesday.
Sappi applied for the duty in March, Business Day reported at the time, describing Ngodwana as the only operational newsprint facility in South Africa and the Southern African Customs Union. According to Itac, the company argued that sustained losses, caused by falling global demand for newsprint, global overcapacity and rising low-priced imports, threatened the viability of Ngodwana’s newsprint machine, known as PM2, and that protection was needed to save jobs and keep newsprint production in the country.
Itac’s investigation backed that case. It found that the local industry’s production, sales, capacity utilisation and market share had declined, that it faced “a significant price disadvantage against imports” and that its profitability had fallen consistently over the investigation period. The duty will be reviewed after three years.
Sappi’s share of the local market fell from 60.8% in 2021/2022 to 51.1% in 2024/2025, and capacity utilisation dropped from 68.5% to 46.1% over the same period, Business Day reported on Wednesday, citing Itac’s findings. Ngodwana can make 110 000t of newsprint a year, about a fifth of the mill’s total output. The mill as a whole supports 1 500 direct jobs, the paper reported.
Canada pays, Europe doesn’t
Not every import is affected. Newsprint from the EU, the UK, the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), the Southern African Development Community and the African Continental Free Trade Area still comes in duty free, according to the Sars schedule. Imports under the general rate, and from the South American trade bloc Mercosur, pay 5%.
The exemptions do little to soften the blow, because South Africa buys most of its newsprint elsewhere. Canada supplied 47.2% of imports in 2024/2025, Brazil 19.8% and Norway 18.3%, Business Day reported, citing Itac. Canadian newsprint will now pay the duty. Brazil falls under the Mercosur column, which the schedule also sets at 5%. Norway, an EFTA member, will not pay it.
The cost hits an industry in long decline. Publishers have closed or cut large numbers of print titles, including national newspapers. – © 2026 NewsCentral Media
