Good news about PC monitor prices in South Africa

Major tech hardware manufacturer Acer recently started assembling monitors in South Africa, with the clear intention of offering local users a line-up of value-focused displays.

The local arm of the Taiwanese firm kicked off monitor assembling at the CZ Electronics factory in Boksburg, Gauteng, on 24 August 2024.

Acer South Africa general manager Glenn Du Toit told MyBroadband that the monitor production line would be able to produce 1,500 units per day.

However, ramping up to that level would take some time because it was still in its initial take-off phase.

Currently, two models are being assembled locally — 24-inch and 27-inch units — both with 100Hz refresh rates.

Over the coming months, more monitors will be added to the locally-made portfolio.

“Our commercial range will go into production in October and our gaming model in November for festive availability,” Du Toit said.

Monitor prices in South Africa have been heavily impacted by high import duties since 2011.

There was initially a full rebate for the ad valorem tax available for monitors without built-in TV receiving capabilities.

However, this was scrapped after it emerged some TV manufacturers abused the mechanism for so-called “screwdriver” operations, which do not contribute to local employment or development like full assembly.

Monitors imported to South Africa are typically subject to a 7% ad valorem tax, in addition to a 25% import duty and 15% VAT.

With its local production capability, Acer can bring its monitors to the local market at more competitive prices.

On this front, it is targeting South Africa’s two dominant monitor manufacturers, Dell and Samsung.

Du Toit said through their “superbrand” status, these two companies have positioned themselves as great value-for-money brands through various mechanisms.

“Samsung has economies of scale and runs local manufacturing, and Dell has their own way of managing the impact of the duties placed on monitors that are fully imported.”

“Brands such as ourselves have just not been able to sustainably compete in the past.”

Below are images showing various parts of Acer’s monitor assembly line at CZ Electronics in Boksburg.

Du Toit said Acer’s local production will allow it to play in the same space as Dell and Samsung.

“What we are doing is working to provide the best in class at affordable prices,” Du Toit said.

“Our strategy is not to be the cheapest monitor, but rather opting to be consistently well priced on our monitors across the range.”

Du Toit said for fully imported units to compete on price, Acer’s rivals would need to dig deep into their pockets.

“For Acer, we plan to hand the savings over to the end-users as everyday pricing,” he said.

Exports and job creation

In addition to supplying to South African stores, the monitors will be exported for sale in other SADC countries.

The factory will also create dozens of jobs in the short term, with plans for further workforce growth as Acer expands its local hardware manufacturing capabilities.

“We project around 50–60 jobs will have been created as a direct result of Acer launching local production,” Du Toit said.

“We hope to increase this number in the coming years as we build these new products and product categories for Acer in Africa.

Du Toit said Acer has identified more categories of products that could be assembled locally.

“We are not stopping with the monitor line. We have identified three opportunities that we are exploring,” he said.

“As we are looking at Southern Africa as our market, the projects are aligned to the local market needs and sometimes sit outside of the traditional Acer offerings.”

“This means that there is a lot of work to do before we go public on them.”

Du Toit emphasises that there was still a lot of work to do before the company could share its plans with the public.

“As a multi-national, we need to ensure that we follow Acer’s very strict quality control rules, so it’s not like switching on a light.”

“Keep in mind that it took us almost two years from concept to launch to get the monitor project off the ground.”