{"id":852736,"date":"2026-03-03T16:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-03T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=852736"},"modified":"2026-03-03T15:48:54","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T13:48:54","slug":"cheap-imports-leave-major-retailer-in-south-africa-cracked","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business\/852736\/cheap-imports-leave-major-retailer-in-south-africa-cracked\/","title":{"rendered":"Cheap imports leave major retailer in South Africa cracked"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

One of South Africa’s biggest tile and bathroomware manufacturers, Italtile, has marked a significant drop in profits as cheap imports hit demand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group reported a 14% drop in trading profit to R1 billion for the six months ending December 2025, with headline earnings per share falling to 60.6 cents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group attributed the decline to the influx of inexpensive tiles into the country, which has dampened demand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The dumping of cheap tiles into South Africa, driven by excess manufacturing capacity and overproduction in neighbouring Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries, led to overstocking and depressed pricing in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The trading environment continued to be characterised by intense competition, weak demand and an imbalance between excess supply and weak demand, mainly due to the dumping of cheaper products, exacerbated by the strengthening rand,” the group said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Informal traders are being supplied by these SADC competitors at competitive prices, which allows them to flood the market with cheaper products, intensifying competition for established retailers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In South Africa’s current economic climate, shaped by persistently low GDP growth and increases in energy and municipal prices that exceed inflation, consumers are left with diminished income for discretionary spending\u2014such as home renovations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The retailer said that these economic pressures caused consumers to prioritise necessities and become highly price-sensitive, seeking greater value, which further pressured the retailer’s margins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We eagerly await the result of the International Trade Administration Commission of South Africa\u2019s (ITAC) investigation into the dumping of tile products in South Africa,” it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“While we understand that the process could take up to 18 months, we are hopeful that ITAC will reach its decision on interim measures in the first half of the 2026 calendar year.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ripple effect<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a>
Johnson Tiles<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Italtile Limited, founded in 1969, is a manufacturer, franchiser and retailer of tiles, bathroomware and other home-finishing products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The retailer owns brands such as CTM, Italtile Retail, and TopT, which together represent a network of 211 stores, including seven online webstores.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2025, 110-year-old company Johnson Tiles shut down in South Africa, which placed JSE-listed Italtile and the larger South African tile industry under pressure. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Johnson Tiles was a division of Norcros SA Proprietary Limited, a prominent manufacturer of glazed ceramic wall and floor tiles, which is part of the UK-based Norcros group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was one of the largest manufacturers of ceramic tiles, with production facilities based in Olifantsfontein, Johannesburg. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Norcros stated that challenging macro conditions over the last five years negatively impacted the business. Despite its revenue in 2025, the company still incurred an operating loss.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After its closure, the South African industry was significantly affected, with Italtile reporting that the impact had severely hit local capacity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In its financial results for the year ended 30 June 2025, Italtile already highlighted the intense competition in the tile manufacturing and retail sectors, with Zambia, Zimbabwe and Mozambique having exceeded consumer demand in the SADC region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“As a result of the closure of this 110-year-old business, regional tile manufacturing capacity reduced by five million square metres per annum, leaving only two local producers,\u201d said Italtile in 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The adhesive industry, which has no regulated standards on its products, has seen a proliferation of adhesive producers offering inferior, low-priced products.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Additionally, the group acknowledged that the introduction of tariffs on imports by Zambia and Zimbabwe to protect their local production reduced local producers’ ability to export to these countries, thereby affecting export market share. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In its latest financial report ending 31 December 2025, Italtile pointed out a challenging double standard: although cheaper dumped products from SADC countries flood the South African market, Italtile is also being obstructed from competitively exporting its products back to those regions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a result, the tile division saw a decline in overall exports during this period.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Italtile has taken a big knock to profits, largely attributed to the influx of low-cost tiles entering the market.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":817357,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9872],"tags":[21906,23450],"class_list":["post-852736","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-italtile","tag-johnson-tiles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/852736","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/127"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=852736"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/852736\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":852779,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/852736\/revisions\/852779"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/817357"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=852736"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=852736"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=852736"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}