[miningmx.com] – SOUTH Africa may eventually adopt export taxes on commodities following a draft economic partnership agreement (EPA) between the European Union (EU) and certain Southern African countries.
BDLive said the African countries – South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, Swaziland, Angola and Mozambique – successfully resisted the EU’s call for a prohibition on export taxes in the draft EPA.
Rob Davies told the newspaper that there were no immediate plans for export taxes on commodities, but he added that there had to be a price advantage to local users of commodities if beneficiation were to succeed.
“There needs to be a price advantage for mineral resources in the South African economy that is going to sustain beneficiation,” Davies told BDLive.
“If your mineral products — for example, steel — are available in the country at import parity pricing as if you imported them from somewhere else, then you have absolutely no competitive advantage from the fact that you have mineral resources on hand.”
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