Mining |  Jewellery | Who's Who Briefing

South Africa supplies approximately 16% of the raw materials for jewellery the world over, while only contributing less than 1% to the world's jewellery market.

However, South Africa has a well-established jewellery manufacturing industry within which a wide variety of precious metal jewellery items are produced. In recent years, great effort has been put into the development of both jewellery training of and manufacturing by young African designers, with considerable input from major players such as De Beers and AngloGold, supported by the South African Jewellery Council.

The industry is primarily based in the Gauteng and Western Cape regions, with some manufacturing existing in the Durban/Pietermaritzburg and Bloemfontein areas. The industry employs approximately 4,000 people and comprises some 350 manufacturing concerns, ranging from large manufacturers employing in excess of 200 employees to smaller studios, specialising in high value added "designer" pieces.

The local market consumes over half of the jewellery produced domestically but, in recent years, exports have accounted for an increasing share of local jewellery offtake. This has been achieved through a series of joint ventures, often involving well established European companies. The majority of these exports have been destined for the United States. This trend is partly related to the fact that South African jewellery exports to the United States attract Generalised System of Preference (GSP) status and so no duty is currently paid on jewellery shipments to the US.

The retail jewellery sector

While South Africa has a large 9 carat gold consumer market, there is also a very strong market for top end, hand crafted pieces made from both 18 carat yellow and white gold as well as platinum jewellery. There are some 3,000 retail jewellery stores in South Africa.

Import Duties

South Africa is a signatory to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade and has agreed to abide to the principles contained in the said agreement. At the present time, the following import duties are applicable to diamonds, jewellery and related product: