Hs 8113 00 Cermets And Articles Thereof Including | Import Duty South Africa | JLog

Get HS 8113.00 wrong and you either pay duty you do not owe — up to 20% MFN if a cermet shipment is pushed into 8207 or 8209 — or you forfeit an ITAC export permit on scrap that falls under the Price Preference System. In 2024 South Africa imported USD 4.96 million of HS 8113 across 89.3 tonnes (UN Comtrade, reporter ZAF, HS 8113, 2024) — small in volume, but with a per-kg landed value north of USD 55, which is why classification errors hurt.

What this HS code covers

A cermet is a composite material in which a hard ceramic phase — tungsten carbide, titanium carbide, titanium carbonitride — is bonded by a metallic binder phase, most often cobalt, sometimes nickel. The WCO sits cermets in Chapter 81 with the refractory metals precisely because the binder is metallic. Do not let the word "ceramic" push you towards Chapter 69.

HS 8113.00 is a single 8-digit line with no sub-splits (SARS Schedule 1 Part 1, Chapter 81, dated 15 May 2026). It covers cermet raw stock, cermet articles that are not finished tool tips (wear parts, structural cermet components, thermal-spray powder feedstock, aerospace titanium-aluminide MMC parts), and — commercially the most loaded category — cermet waste and scrap, including used tungsten-carbide inserts and grinding swarf.

What 8113.00 does NOT cover: unmounted plates, sticks and tips of cermets (these are 8209), cermet-tipped tools mounted on a steel shank (8207), pure tungsten with no cobalt binder (8101), and pure cobalt (8105).

South African trade picture

South Africa is a net importer of HS 8113 but a meaningful exporter of the scrap form. Imports in 2024 totalled USD 4.96 million across 89.3 tonnes, with an implied landed value of about USD 55/kg (UN Comtrade, reporter ZAF, HS 8113, 2024).

Germany leads at USD 1.86 million, or about 37.5% of imports by value, with a unit value of USD 172/kg — characteristic of high-grade WC-Co and TiCN finished cermet stock and tooling-grade powders. China follows at USD 275,000 (5.6%) at a much lower unit value of USD 22/kg, consistent with bulk lower-grade cermet powders. Hong Kong (USD 219,000, 4.4%) and Austria (USD 120,000, 2.4%) round out the named partners.

The export side is more concentrated and more revealing. SA exported USD 952,000 of HS 8113 in 2024 across 61.8 tonnes, and 99% of that went to just two destinations: Indonesia (USD 476,000, 30.9 tonnes) and the Netherlands (USD 466,000, 30.8 tonnes) at near-identical unit values of around USD 15/kg (UN Comtrade, reporter ZAF, HS 8113, 2024). That price band and that destination pair is the unmistakable signature of bulk tungsten-cobalt scrap shipped to overseas refiners — the Indonesian refining complex and the Wolfram refining cluster around Bergen op Zoom and Rotterdam.

Over three years, imports fell 24.7% by value while exports grew 56.4% (UN Comtrade trade flow data, reporter ZAF, HS 8113, 2022–2024). Exports are growing on the back of rising scrap-recovery volumes.

Duties and VAT

This is the rare tariff line where every duty column reads "free". SARS Schedule 1 Part 1 (Chapter 81, dated 15 May 2026) records the following rates on HS 8113.00:

In plain English: there is no import duty on cermet raw stock, finished cermet articles, or cermet waste and scrap, regardless of country of origin. Your only import-side fiscal exposure is VAT at 15% on the customs ATV (customs value × 1.10 + duty + any anti-dumping duty). With duty at zero, that collapses to an effective 16.5% VAT on the customs value. There is no excise duty and no anti-dumping or safeguard measure in force against HS 8113.

The misclassification cost is real. The headings most often confused with 8113 carry materially higher MFN rates (SARS Schedule 1 Part 1, Chapter 82, dated 15 May 2026): 8209.00.10 (tungsten carbide tips for machine tools) and 8209.00.90 (other unmounted cermet tips) both attract 20% MFN; 8209.00.20 (other tungsten carbide tips) attracts 15%; 8207.13.25 (rock drill bits with cermet working parts) and 8207.13.27 (conical cutter picks with tungsten carbide inserts) both attract 20%. On a USD 80,000 consignment of WC-Co tooling, a wrong push from 8113 into 8209.00.10 costs you USD 16,000 of duty you did not owe — plus the VAT uplift on top.

Documents and compliance

For a clean SARS entry on HS 8113 imports, you need the documentation that proves both classification (cermet raw stock or article, not a finished mounted tool) and origin (where preference is claimed — though on this line, preference adds nothing because MFN is already free).

Documents typically required:

• Commercial invoice with cermet grade designation (ISO K10–K40 for WC-Co cutting grades, P10–P40 for TiCN grades)
• Packing list with net and gross weights per item
• Bill of lading (sea freight) or air waybill (air freight)
• EN 10204 Mill Test Certificate or material data sheet naming the chemical phase and the form
• Certificate of origin (EUR.1, REX declaration or equivalent) where preference is claimed
• SAD 500 customs declaration
• For cermet waste and scrap exports: ITAC export permit and proof of local-offer compliance under the Price Preference System

The Mill Test Certificate is the single most important defensive document. SARS officers will challenge the 8113 classification on high-value finished tooling, and only a grade-and-form certificate distinguishes raw cermet stock from finished tools.

Common mistakes

Three classification traps catch SA importers regularly. First, a cermet cutting tip mounted on a steel shank is NOT 8113 — it falls in 8207 (interchangeable tools) at up to 20% MFN. Second, an unmounted cermet tip, plate or stick is NOT 8113 either — it falls in 8209 at 15%–20% depending on the sub-split. Third, a TiCN or similar cermet powder consignment can be pushed by an unfamiliar officer into 3824 (chemical preparations n.e.s.) — your defence is the mill cert proving a single chemically-defined ceramic-metal phase.

On the export side, the trap is treating cermet scrap as ordinary metal waste. Tungsten carbide cutting inserts are explicitly listed on the current ITAC Price Preference System Summary for Non-Ferrous Scrap Metals (effective 18 May 2026), with gazetted local-offer prices of R663/kg for mixed scrap inserts, R704/kg for coated inserts, R745/kg for clean inserts, and R376/kg for tungsten sludge. Under the International Trade Administration Act 71 of 2002, you must first offer the consignment to local SA consumers at the gazetted PPS price for the prescribed notice period before ITAC will issue an export permit. Skip that step and your SAD 500 export entry will not clear.

Cermet powders, TiCN, titanium-aluminide MMC scrap and thermal-spray powder waste are not separately listed on the current PPS summary — but the conservative answer is still to apply to ITAC, because export control over HS 8113 scrap is exercised through the permit channel regardless.

How JLog handles it

JLog operates from Unit 12C, Nearby Industrial Park, 10 Railway Street, Woodstock — directly placed for Cape Town Container Terminal sea-freight and Cape Town International air-freight clearance, the right footprint for the low-volume, high-value tooling and aerospace consignments that dominate HS 8113.

For importers, we run the classification check against the mill cert before lodging the SAD 500, prepare the EUR.1 or REX paperwork where origin matters for adjacent lines, and handle the SARS clearance and VAT calculation end to end. For scrap exporters, we handle the ITAC Price Preference System local-offer process, the export permit application, and the SAD 500 export entry. If your consignment sits ambiguously between 8113.00 and 8207 or 8209, we will push for a SARS tariff determination before you ship — not after.

Get a quote for shipping HS 8113.00: jlog.co.za/get-a-quote