HS Code 5701.10 — Carpets and other textile floor coverings, knotted, whether or not made up: Of wool or fine animal hair | South Africa Import & Export

The import duty on hand-knotted carpets of wool or fine animal hair (including mohair) into South Africa under HS code 5701.10 is 5% MFN, with 15% VAT charged on the FOB customs value plus non-rebated customs duty plus the 10% notional uplift. The 5% rate is unusually low for a chapter-57 textile floor covering — most carpet subheadings sit at 30%. Hand-knotted wool/mohair carpets specifically benefit from a reduced statutory rate, and a SADC Certificate of Origin or EUR.1 brings the duty to zero.

Customs Duty Rate

The customs duty rate for HS Code 5701.10 is 5%. Duty is calculated on the FOB customs value (the goods value at the point of loading onto the carrier; international freight and insurance are not part of the duty base). Import VAT is then 15% of the Added Tax Value (ATV) — customs value + 10% uplift (for non-SACU origin; nil for BLNS countries) + non-rebated duty.

Product description — what HS 5701.10 actually covers

HS 5701.10 covers carpets and other textile floor coverings, knotted, of wool or fine animal hair. The hand-knotted category — Persian, Turkish, Afghan, Indian, Pakistani, North African and Caucasian hand-knotted carpets — manufactured from wool, mohair, or other fine animal hair fibres. Each knot tied individually by hand around the warp; the construction technique is what defines the heading, not the regional style.

The chapter-57 split that matters: 5701 hand-knotted carpets (regardless of material — 5701.10 wool/animal hair, 5701.90 other materials including silk and synthetics); 5702 woven carpets (machine-loomed); 5703 tufted carpets (gun-tufted, the mass-market line); 5704 felt floor coverings; 5705 other carpet types. Hand-knotted construction is the most labour-intensive and the highest-value end of the trade. A 3m × 4m Tabriz wool carpet from Iran with 800,000 knots per square metre can take 18–24 months for a master weaver to complete; a comparable 3m × 4m tufted carpet from China rolls off a tufting gun in 6–8 hours. The construction-technique and material distinctions explain the 5% vs 30% duty split.

The “fine animal hair” qualifier specifically captures mohair — the long-staple lustrous fibre from the Angora goat. South Africa is the world’s largest mohair producer (R600 million-plus annual industry, Karoo-region farms, Stucken & Co clip handling). The 5701.10 heading is the import-side classification for mohair carpets sourced from foreign weavers (mostly Turkish, with some Indian and Afghan production) — a niche but real trade for SA designers who specify mohair for its sheen and durability.

What 5701.10 specifically excludes: machine-loomed carpets (5702, typically 30%), tufted carpets (5703, typically 30%), kelims and other flat-weave non-knotted floor coverings (5702.10), and antique carpets over 100 years old (9706.00, duty-free).

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SA importer profile

The 5701.10 trade into South Africa clusters into four buyer-types:

• Specialist hand-knotted carpet dealers — Persian Carpet Gallery, Talu, House of Persia, dealer networks across Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban. These import direct from Tabriz, Isfahan, Kashan, Mashhad in Iran (when sanctions allow), Istanbul and Kayseri in Turkey, Mirzapur and Bhadohi in India, Peshawar and Karachi in Pakistan. Per-piece value high; per-consignment volume moderate.
• Interior designers and decorators — sourcing hand-knotted carpets for high-end residential and hospitality projects. Often single-piece imports for specific rooms (a 4m × 5m Tabriz for a Constantia drawing room; a 3m × 4m Bidjar for a Camps Bay study).
• Auction houses and estate dealers — Stephan Welz, Strauss & Co handle hand-knotted carpets in specialist sales. The trade is both import (foreign dealer consignment for SA auction) and export (SA estate sales destined to foreign collectors).
• Mohair niche — small specialist designers and SA-side mohair brands (Hinterveld, Cape Mohair Industries) occasionally import foreign-woven mohair carpets to complement SA-produced ranges. A small but specific sub-trade.

Sea freight dominates (~95% by volume). Hand-knotted carpets are heavy, voluminous, and tolerate sea-freight conditions well (wool is naturally humidity-stable and packs flat). Air freight is used for single high-value pieces destined for time-critical interior design installs.

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Import procedure — step by step

1. Confirm classification. Hand-knotted vs woven vs tufted is the decisive call. The supplier should describe the construction technique on the commercial invoice — “hand-knotted, [knot density] knots per square metre, [origin region], [pile material]”. A “Persian-style” carpet that is actually machine-woven sits in 5702 at 30%, not 5701.10 at 5%. SARS officers familiar with the trade can identify construction technique on inspection.
2. Origin and provenance documentation. Hand-knotted carpets have a strong provenance trade — dealer letter on letterhead identifying region, weaver workshop or family, knot density, pile material, age, and authenticity. For Iranian-origin carpets, current US sanctions complicate trade routing; SA importers route via Turkey or Dubai with care to ensure SARS-side documentation matches OFAC-side acceptability.
3. CITES / endangered species check — irrelevant for wool and mohair carpets specifically, but silk-pile carpets (which classify under 5701.90, not 5701.10) and certain antique pieces incorporating regulated dye materials can trigger CITES review.
4. DALRRD phytosanitary check for natural fibre. Wool and mohair carpets are subject to occasional DALRRD inspection at port for biosecurity (parasites, moths). Pre-shipment fumigation certificate from the source country is best practice for high-value imports.
5. SARS Importer Code and SAD500. Box 33: 5701.10. Box 31: “Hand-knotted carpet, wool / mohair pile, [origin], [knot density] knots per m², [dimensions], dealer model [code]”. Attach EUR.1 / SADC certificate to the EDI submission for preferential treatment. Origin certificate must match the SARS-side narrative — Iranian-origin carpets routed via Turkey must declare actual country of manufacture, not country of last transit.
6. Pay duty and VAT. Without preference: 5% duty + 15% VAT compounded — a relatively low statutory burden compared to most furniture and homeware lines. With EUR.1 / SADC: 15% VAT only.
7. Conservation handling on arrival. Hand-knotted carpets benefit from professional unrolling, vacuum-cleaning, and condition reporting on arrival. Dealer-segment retail customers expect this; private design-project customers value it.
8. Long-term archive. Provenance dealer letter, knot-density certificate, EUR.1 / origin certificate, SAD500, insurance certificate. Hand-knotted carpets resell at auction decades after import; the SA-side documentation is part of the resale evidence chain.

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SAD500 worked example — Turkish hand-knotted wool carpets

Scenario: a Johannesburg specialist carpet dealer imports a consignment of Turkish hand-knotted wool carpets (12 carpets, mixed sizes 2m × 3m to 4m × 5m) from a Kayseri dealer. Invoice EUR 38,000, sea-freight EUR 1,800, in-transit insurance EUR 950. At R20.20 per EUR the CIF is R823,150. The Turkish supplier issues an EUR.1 under Turkey’s separate FTA arrangement — note: Turkey is not in the SADC-EU EPA; the SA-Turkey trade preference position is more limited.

We work two scenarios — MFN entry (no Turkish preference applicable) versus a hypothetical EU-origin equivalent for comparison:

The 5% MFN rate keeps the uplift uplift relatively gentle (~25%) by comparison to chapter-94 furniture (40%+ MFN uplift). EU-EPA preferential entry shaves a further ~R47,000 but is only available for EU-origin carpets, which are a minority of the world hand-knotted trade. Most SA hand-knotted carpet imports are from Turkey, Iran, India and Pakistan and entered at MFN — the 5% rate is the operative number.

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SARS pitfalls — what gets hand-knotted carpet entries audit-trailed

Construction-technique misdeclaration. A “hand-knotted Persian-style” carpet that is actually machine-loomed or tufted carries 30% duty under 5702 or 5703, not 5% under 5701. SARS Customs officers familiar with the trade can identify the technique on visual and tactile inspection of the back of the carpet (hand-knotted shows individual knots on the reverse; machine-loomed shows uniform weave; tufted shows latex backing). Misclassification triggers reassessment to the higher rate plus VAT compounded plus 10% under-payment penalty. The defence is the supplier’s construction declaration plus retained sample documentation for SARS inspection on demand.

Iranian-origin sanctions routing. US OFAC sanctions on Iranian goods complicate trade flow. SA’s domestic position is more permissive (SA does not adopt unilateral US sanctions in trade terms), but international banking, freight forwarding and insurance providers often won’t touch Iranian-origin goods regardless of SA-side legality. Routing via Turkey or Dubai is the operational reality, but SARS-side documentation must declare actual country of manufacture (Iran), not country of transit. A misdeclared origin to chase sanctions-side ease creates a SARS misclassification penalty later. The compliant route: declare Iranian origin honestly, work with banks and forwarders that handle the trade, accept the operational friction.

Antique-line carpets. A “Persian carpet from a Tabriz workshop, circa 1900” is borderline — 120+ years old qualifies under 9706.00 at zero duty; under 100 years remains in 5701.10 at 5%. Dealers occasionally overstate age to chase the antique-duty zero rate; SARS officers and ITAC-side carpet specialists can challenge age claims and require documentary proof (auction catalogue entries, published reference works, carbon dating in some high-value disputes).

Knot-density valuation challenges. A hand-knotted carpet’s value scales sharply with knot density — a 4m × 5m carpet at 200,000 knots per m² may invoice at R150,000; the same dimensions at 800,000 knots per m² invoices at R600,000+. SARS valuation officers occasionally challenge invoices where the declared knot density does not match the visible product. The defence is the dealer’s knot-density certificate, retained sample inspection, and (for high-value pieces) independent appraisal.

Synthetic-fibre or blended-fibre misdeclaration. A “wool hand-knotted carpet” with significant synthetic or cotton content falls outside 5701.10 (which requires the pile to be predominantly wool or fine animal hair). SARS Customs can challenge fibre composition by laboratory test in disputes. The defence is the supplier’s fibre-composition certificate. Mohair-blend carpets specifically should declare exact percentages.

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Ready to import? What to do next

JLog handles hand-knotted carpet import logistics for SA dealers, designers and collectors. We coordinate with specialist forwarders in Turkey, India and Pakistan for protected packing (rolled rather than folded, vapour-barrier wrapping for sea freight, fumigation certificates), manage origin certificate vetting at the clearing-agent stage, coordinate DALRRD biosecurity inspection where applicable, and deliver white-glove last-mile with on-site unrolling and conditioning.

Get a JLog quote — Specialist Floor Coverings service — sea/air consolidation from Turkey, India, Pakistan, EUR.1 vetting where applicable, biosecurity-compliant packing, white-glove last-mile. → https://jlog.co.za/get-a-quote/?hs=5701.10&service=carpets

Calculate your import duty & VAT — free JLog calculator

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Frequently Asked Questions

What is the import duty on hand-knotted wool carpets into South Africa?

The import duty on HS 5701.10 (knotted carpets of wool or fine animal hair) is 5% MFN per SARS Schedule No. 1, Part 1, plus 15% VAT on the ATV (FOB customs value × 1.10 + duty).

Does the 5% rate apply to mohair carpets?

Yes. Mohair is “fine animal hair” within the meaning of HS 5701.10 and qualifies for the 5% MFN rate.

Why is the 5701.10 duty so much lower than other carpet lines?

Hand-knotted construction is the highest-value, most labour-intensive carpet category. The 5% reflects SA’s tariff structure favouring hand-craft over machine-tufted production. Tufted carpets (5703) and machine-loomed carpets (5702) attract higher MFN rates (typically 30%) — partly because those are categories where SA has substantial domestic manufacture to protect.

Can I import Persian carpets despite US sanctions on Iran?

SA’s domestic legal position permits Iranian goods. The operational challenge is international banking and freight; most SA imports route via Turkey or Dubai. SARS-side documentation must declare actual country of manufacture (Iran), not country of transit.

What about antique carpets — does 5701.10 apply?

No. Hand-knotted carpets more than 100 years old at the date of importation classify under HS 9706.00 (antiques, 0% duty). Age-evidence documentation is essential — auction catalogue, dealer letter with verifiable provenance, or carbon-dating analysis for high-value disputed cases.

Do I need a phytosanitary certificate for wool / mohair carpets?

Best practice is to obtain a source-country phytosanitary or fumigation certificate to pre-empt DALRRD inspection on arrival. Wool and mohair are natural fibres susceptible to insect infestation and DALRRD may detain consignments for inspection without source-country treatment evidence.