South African lemon juice producers may be slapped with anti-dumping duties, if a petition in the US succeeds
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
South Africa walks a tightrope on US relations
South Africa has been conducting a high-wire act in its relations with the United States (US). It is maintaining friendships with Washington’s enemies like Russia, Iran and China while trying to avoid disrupting its economic relations with America. Tensions came closer than ever to breaking point this month as the US House of Representatives’ Committee on Foreign Affairs passed the US-South Africa Bilateral Relations...
28 March 2024
Remarks by Deputy Treasury Secretary Adeyemo on the US-South Africa economic relationship
As Prepared for Delivery in Johannesburg, South Africa Thank you for the warm welcome. I want to express my gratitude to Consul General Spera and the American Chamber of Commerce for hosting me. I am honored to be joined today by South African Entrepreneurs that are building companies to unlock the economic potential of their country. I owe my own presence here today to the inspiration I drew from South Africa. In the middle of the...
13 March 2024
South African president Ramaphosa meets with US congressional delegation
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa today, 21 February 2024, received for a visit from a bipartisan congressional delegation from the United States of America, in Tuynhuys, Cape Town. The delegation is visiting South Africa at the invitation of the Aspen Institute. The President and the US congressional delegation discussed the importance of the relationship between South Africa and the US, which manifests in strong economic,...
21 February 2024
US congress receives Bill to review South Africa relations
A bill has been submitted to the United States congress calling for a full review of the country’s bilateral relationship with South Africa following the International Court of Justice ruling that found it plausible that Israel has committed acts of genocide against Gaza. The bipartisan bill which was introduced by US Republican congressman John James and Democratic Party congressman Jared Moskowitz this week could threaten South...
09 February 2024
Fitch research unit expects better AGOA deal for South Africa
Fitch’s research arm, BMI, believes SA has done enough to get improved trade terms under the African Growth & Opportunity Act (Agoa), which it expects to be extended and modified before its expiry in September 2025. But it warns that the deal might be stillborn if Donald Trump is elected US president. The research think-tank said in a note it assigns a 65% probability that Agoa will not only be renewed but modified to the benefit of...
09 January 2024
South Africa: BLSA CEO calls for more companies to leverage AGOA opportunities
Many more South African companies could benefit from the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), which gives eligible countries access to US markets free of tariff barriers, business organisation BusinessLeadership South Africa (BLSA) CEO Busi Mavuso writes in her weekly newsletter. Apart from mainstream formal sector businesses, there are opportunities to enable more entrepreneurs, including women-led...
20 November 2023
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