Anti-Dumping Commission validates SPC Ardmona's call for action

The Anti-Dumping Commission has found that the Australian tomato processing industry has suffered following the import of Italian processed tomatoes that arrived in Australia at ‘dumped’ prices.

SPC Ardmona lodged an application with the Anti-Dumping Commission which claimed that its business had been injured through price suppression, reduced profitability and lower sales volumes as a result of the tomatoes being exported at margins which constitute dumping. The commission released the report in response to SPC Ardmona’s application.

“This report highlights the need for greater pre-emptive action to prevent dumping before it happens, rather than taking action after the industry has, as identified in this report, been damaged,” said AUSVEG spokesperson Hugh Gurney.

“The dumping of cheaply produced produce, largely from European countries where a number of governmental support mechanisms exist, is rampant in both the processed tomato and potato industries, and it is causing significant damage to Australian processors and growers.

“The closure of the McCain potato processing plant in Penola last month is just the latest in a spate of closures of Australian vegetable processing plants in the past two years, largely as a result of the flood of imported frozen produce entering our country.”

Earlier in 2013, SPC Ardmona Managing Director Peter Kelly called for emergency safeguard actions to be put in place to minimise the damage being caused to the local horticultural industry.

“The findings of this report vindicate Mr Kelly’s calls for safeguard actions as the horticulture industry is under incredible pressure from dumped foreign foods, and if this is not remedied our nation may find itself without local businesses to grow or process our own food. This would be a travesty for a proud agricultural nation that ‘rode on a sheep’s back’ to become the country that we are today,” Gurney said.

“Dumping laws must be proactive to prevent damage and injury to the Australian industry, as the report has found. If action is not taken, large Australian employers like SPC Ardmona may go the way of Rosella, the iconic Australian soup and sauce brand which closed its doors earlier this year.”