Agoa.info - African Growth and Opportunity Act
TRALAC - Trade Law Centre
You are here: Home/News/Article/South African lemon juice producers may be slapped with anti-dumping duties, if a petition in the US succeeds

South African lemon juice producers may be slapped with anti-dumping duties, if a petition in the US succeeds

South African lemon juice producers may be slapped with anti-dumping duties, if a petition in the US succeeds
Published date:
Monday, 10 January 2022
Author:
Ntando Thukwana

Makers of lemon juice in South Africa may be slapped with anti-dumping duties by the US, if a petition against them succeeds next month.

On 30 December, a US citrus juice maker, Ventura Coastal, filed a petition with the United States International Trade Commission, requesting that the US government impose anti-dumping duties on lemon juice from South Africa and Brazil. It alleges that lemon juice from South Africa and Brazil is sold at less than fair value in the US.

Should the petition succeed and anti-dumping tariffs be imposed, South Africa’s juice processors will be left with a lemon juice glut, Andre Swart, managing director of Venco Fruit, told the Business Insider South Africa on Monday.

 Venco Fruit is one of the juice makers named in the investigation.


  • A US juice maker, Ventura Coastal, has filed a petition to impose anti-dumping tariffs on lemon juice from South Africa and Brazil.
  • Should the petition succeed, South Africa will lose the US as its key destination for its lemon juice.
  • Finding alternate markets could be difficult, seeing the world is already experiencing a lemon juice glut, an executive from a juice processing company in South Africa has said.

Lemon-juice makers would not only generate less revenue, but they will have to target alternate export destinations in a world that is already experiencing an oversupply of lemon juice, Swart said.

“It means that we will have much less imports in the USA and we have to find other markets for that depending on the duty that they raise eventually,” Swart said.

But, he said the world currently has an excess of lemon juice.

“There’s quite a supply, and the US has seen a decrease in the price of lemon juice just because there’s so much supply in the world. So we’ll have to find other customers, and we’ll get less for it, eventually,” said Swart.

Swart said news of the petition that came just as they returned to work from the holiday break came as a “nasty surprise”.

“It’s something that we would like to defend if we can. They’ve sent us questionnaires; we have completed that. We will submit that to them; we must do so by the 13th of January, and then the next move will be to see if they are happy with what we’ve given them or [if] they want to further the investigations,” Swart said.

The US trade commission expects to deliver its determinations on the lemon juice anti-dumping probe on 14 February.

The investigation is tasked with determining whether there is a reasonable indication that imports of lemon juice from Brazil and South Africa have any material threats to a US industry.The probe threatens South Africa’s citrus industry that has enjoyed remarkable growth over the years, including entering new markets. According to the Citrus Growers’ Association, citrus growers exported 161.6 million cartons of fruit in 2021, increasing by 18.6 million cartons from the prior year. Specifically, export volumes of lemons increased by 5%, with 29.7 million cartons shipped.

Of the 2.8 million tons of citrus produced in the country, 20% or more than 554,000 is processed.

Also see: US trade remedies and AGOA

Read related news articles

US ambassador: AGOA is an opportunity to deepen ties between the US and South Africa

President Joe Biden last December at the US-Africa Leaders Summit affirmed that the US will elevate its relationship with Africa. The future is Africa. One example is its youthful population: the median age on the continent is 19. By 2050, one in four people in the world will be in Africa. The US wants them to be healthy and wealthy. What happens in Africa will affect the rest of the globe — and we want to work together to ensure it is...

09 November 2023

US Senator Chris Coons proposes AGOA extension by 16 years, immediate review of SA’s AGOA eligibility

Powerful US Democratic Party Senator Chris Coons is circulating a discussion draft of a Bill to renew the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) for 16 years that would also require an immediate “out-of-cycle” review of South Africa’s eligibility for Agoa. That could lead to South Africa being removed next year from the programme, which has provided considerable benefits to SA exporters to the US of cars, fruits and wine, in...

07 November 2023

AGOA benefits extend beyond trade [incl. VIDEO of Friday's opening session]

Economies in Sub-Saharan countries stand to benefit far more from the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) than notable trade statistics, says President Cyril Ramaphosa. “AGOA enhances the diversification of African economies, enabling them to export value-added products. By enabling African countries to have preferential access to the US market, this opportunity incentivises African countries to develop and export value-added goods...

06 November 2023

South Africa pins its hopes on an early 2024 US Congress renewal of AGOA

South Africa’s government is hoping that the process to renew the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) by the US Congress will be concluded by early 2024, ensuring that more than 20 African countries continue to have duty-free access to the world’s largest economy.   This is the first time that the South African government has given a timeline for when it hopes the US Congress might extend Agoa, which has been renewed twice...

05 November 2023

SA trade minister Patel expresses confidence at media briefing about South Africa’s continued inclusion in AGOA

Ahead of South Africa hosting the US-AfricaTrade and Economic Cooperation Forum – also called the AGOA Forum – from November 2 to 4, Trade, Industry and Competition Minister Ebrahim Patel on October 26 briefed the media on the state of readiness for the forum, expressing confidence that the South African government’s relations with the US were strong. Various South African stakeholders have been motivating for...

26 October 2023

Business Leadership SA calls for business to capitalise on South Africa’s hosting of AGOA Forum

It is notable that South Africa will still host the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) Private Sector Forum next month, given that several US lawmakers have called for it to be moved elsewhere, and have questioned the country’s preferential trade terms with the US under Agoa as such preferential access to the US markets is open only to African countries that do not threaten American security interests. This is...

24 October 2023

'South Africa expected to retain its AGOA status despite differences with US'

It is almost certain that South Africa’s Agoa status will be renewed despite it and the US often being on opposite sides over geopolitical crises in the past year. The eligibility of countries for the US’s African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) has been under review during the past few months, and it is becoming clearer that South Africa is one of the countries that will continue being a part of the trade programme. A strong...

19 October 2023

South Africa: Entrepreneurial sisters venture into US market [WATCH]

It was a drive to explore international trade that saw entrepreneurial sisters, Michelle and Mo Mokone, grabbing an opportunity to venture into the United States of America market. The pair are the co-owners of Mo’s Crib, a company that produces a range of handmade home décor products.  Their product range includes handwoven baskets, planters, trays, wall art and home outdoor items. It was in 2021 that the pair decided to take...

09 October 2023

US-South Africa relations in focus as AGOA decision nears

By serendipity I found myself attending a hearing in the US Capitol last week on the US-SA bilateral relationship. Such hearings are easy for members of the public to access and, given an afternoon free in Washington between other meetings, I attended. The most striking feature of the hearings was the common refrain that the ANC was failing. It was taken as a given that the ANC is delivering poor governance. US support was framed as...

01 October 2023

South Africa’s access under AGOA helps neighbouring countries, says country's trade minister

SA is to argue strongly that its participation in the Africa Growth and Opportunities Act (Agoa) benefits neighbouring countries through shared value chains, said trade, industry and competition minister Ebrahim Patel on Tuesday. The argument will be made in November when the Agoa forum meets in Johannesburg that neighbouring countries will suffer significant losses if SA is excluded from the scheme, which provides preferential access to...

26 September 2023

Renewed commitment: South Africa to host AGOA summit amid calls for extension

South Africa is set to host the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) Summit later this year, despite recent diplomatic tensions between the country and the United States (US). In June this year, US legislators called for the relocation of the summit due to controversy surrounding alleged arms shipments to Russia by South Africa. Cleared of any wrongdoing by an internal judicial panel, the US has reaffirmed its commitment to shared growth...

21 September 2023

You are here: Home/News/Article/South African lemon juice producers may be slapped with anti-dumping duties, if a petition in the US succeeds