The expiry of anti-dumping duties on imported potato chips was a concern not only for South Africa’s potato industry, but also for other industries threatened by dumped imports, said the FairPlay Movement NGO.

The founder of the not-for-profit trade movement, Francois Baird, said that immediately at risk was the potato industry, which had successfully proved that Belgian and Netherlands potato producers were dumping the chips used to make French fries, and had secured anti-dumping duties to level the playing field.

“Those duties were due to expire in 2019, and local producers applied for an extension, known as a ‘sunset review’. South Africa’s independent regulator, the International Trade Administration Commission (Itac), had 18 months in which to investigate that application, but failed to complete the task in time. As a result, by default, the duties fell away in July 2021,” said Baird.

In March, the chief executive of Potatoes South Africa, Willie Jacobs, said that from 2018 to 2020, South Africa produced about 2.5 million tons of potatoes annually in 16 different regions across the country.

FairPlay said it hoped that threatened potato producers would renew their application, and Itac would be able to handle it expeditiously.

“Itac has reportedly never failed before to complete the sunset review, and it should ensure that it never fails again. Whatever went wrong, regardless of whether the fault lies with the organization or potato producers, or a combination of both, must be addressed to ensure there can be no repetition.”