• Local canned food company SPC, maker of Ardmona brand tomatoes, has welcomed the federal government decision on dumping.
    Local canned food company SPC, maker of Ardmona brand tomatoes, has welcomed the federal government decision on dumping.
Close×

Italian canned tomato exporters have now all been found guilty of dumping product in Australia, following a federal government decision to apply dumping duties to all canned tomatoes sourced from there.

The decision follows a recommendation from the Anti-Dumping Commission that duties be imposed on two Italian tomato exporters, Feger and La Doria, which represent around half of the imported Italian tomatoes in Australia.

The Anti-Dumping Commission found they were selling product for less than they sell for in their own country - and causing material damage to the local industry.

A previous anti-dumping investigation into canned tomatoes found that 103 of the 105 exporters from Italy were illegally dumping products in Australia and duties were applied. The latest decision applies duties on the remaining exporters.

Reg Weine, the managing director of local canned food company SPC said the Australian Anti-Dumping Commission (ADC) and the Australian government has made "the right and fair decision".

According to Weine, since 2010 the illegal dumping of products has resulted in material damage to SPC, including a loss of 40 per cent of its volume and reduced profitability, as it struggled to compete on price with dumped Italian tomato products.

“This is a win for SPC and our growers, and for Australian industry, which faces daily pressure to compete with cheap imports and those cutting corners and putting slavery in a can,” Weine said.

“Australian retailers need to come to the party by supporting Australian manufacturers and making Australian made and grown products readily available and easier to identify and find on shelves.”

SPC, which is owned by Coca-Cola Amatil, and Simplot are the two largest players in Australia's fruit and vegetable processing industry with 14.8 per cent and 5.9 per cent market shares respectively, according to IBISWorld senior industry Analyst, Brooke Tonkin.

While these players stand to benefit the most from import protection in absolute terms, import protection is likely to have the greatest influence on smaller players. This is because smaller players do not generally have economies of scale, meaning they find it more difficult to compete with low-priced imports based on price,” she said.

According to Tonkin, import competition will remain strong for SPC and other players the Fruit and Vegetable Processing industry, as imported products are likely to still be priced lower than locally made products, due to our high local wage costs.

However, it will lessen the price difference between local and imported products and should ease competitive pressures for local producers,” she said.

She also said increasing prices of imported tinned tomatoes will increase purchase costs for pasta sauce producers that do not source these ingredients locally.

AFGC CEO, Gary Dawson said the federal government decision recognises the impact of subsidies on the Australian agri-food sector. In the past, he said, subsidies which reduce the prices paid by Italian tomato processors for raw tomatoes have not been taken into consideration when assessing for dumping duties.

Food and grocery processing is Australia’s largest manufacturing sector and its competitiveness is currently under pressure from high and rising input costs, retail price deflation and high compliance costs."

In this environment the threat of product dumping is a serious issue warranting the tougher anti-dumping measures introduced by the Federal Government. Today’s decision by the Australian Government sends a message to our international competitors that Australia is not an easy target for dumping goods.

“Australia is regarded as a high quality, safe and premium food producer. The food industry and the growers supplying it want to compete with international manufacturers and producers on a level playing field. This type of action gives our food processors and growers the opportunity to do just that,” Dawson said.

Packaging News

Earlier this month PKN published an article that voiced industry concern over the speculation that Qenos might be closing its polymer manufacturing plants in Australia. Qenos has remained silent on the matter. The MD of Qenos customer Impact International, Aleks Lajovic, wants some answers.

Amcor, a global leader in developing and producing responsible packaging solutions, is the proud recipient of eight FPA Awards for innovative and sustainable contributions to the industry.

An impressive number of quality entries into the inaugural Hive Awards created a highly competitive line-up for judges to consider. The packaging category was one of the most strongly contested.