The Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (the dtic) reported significant achievements in investment and export targets while addressing various operational bottlenecks and audit challenges. This announcement was made yesterday by the department on its Annual Report for 2025/2026 financial year during the briefing to the Portfolio Committee on Trade, Industry and Competition.
the dtic, led by Minister Parks Tau, confirmed that investment attractions into the country nearly doubled, with industrial investment surpassing R31 billion against R10 billion target and local procurement reaching R86 billion versus R50 billion target.
According to Tau, the department is working to diversify markets through trade preferences with the European Union (EU), Southern African Development Community, BRICS Plus, United States of America (US), United Kingdom (UK) and the rest of the continent.
“Efforts are being made to strengthen export promotion for manufacturing, including Small, Medium, and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs) and black-owned enterprises. the dtic Group aims to achieve targets despite global uncertainty, armid conflicts in Europe and the Middle East, and attacks on rule based trade structures,” Tau said.
The department told members that global exports reached R142 billion against a R120 billion target while continental exports reached R146 billion with SMMEs exports reaching R764 billion. the dtic further announced that the Independent Power Producer (IPP) projects were unblocked through the electricity one-stop shop, surpassing targets threefold of 38 to 92 projects reported under the same year.
“While facing significant headwinds, the department is shifting from crisis management to implementing a focused industrial development strategy. The goal is to move away from merely producing paper documents toward measuring actual outcomes for the South African economy. The revised industrial strategy that mainly focuses on Special Economic Zones and industry specific Industrial Parks is an example of such,” added Tau.
Outlining the sectoral challenges and operational challenges, the department explained that manufacturing growth was slightly below 0,4 percent compared to the 0,5 percent goal, while Industrial Parks progress was delayed due to funding constraints with only ten out of forty-five targeted parks being funded.
Tau indicated that the import reduction of rail and transport components was hindered by logistics crises requiring concessions to maintain immediate operations, while electric vehicle negotiations with the UK are ongoing due to concerns over domestic capacity and future investment interest.
“Significant progress is being made in sectors like automotive through the Automotive Master Plan, but other industries face external pressure. Poultry is facing increased US demand and quota issues related to five asks from the US. The steel sector is dealing with increased tariffs that match those of the EU constraining market access,” he said.
The department’s spending was driven by several high value categories, with total expenditure primarily driven by industrial incentives totaling R9.1 billion including the successful disbursement of R5 billion, and external programmes such as the Social Employment Fund which included R1.3 billion, R41 million in members fees, and various transfers to Non-Profit Organisations. the dtic further noted challenges regarding unqualified audits and the need to improve relations with other government departments to align programmes.
Media Enquiries:
Kaamil Alli – Ministerial Spokesperson
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Bongani Lukhele – Director: Media Relations
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Issued by: The Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (the dtic)
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