In its third-quarter report, the CTC said Varun Beverages,
which manufactures Pepsi products, Aquaclear water and Sting Energy drink in
Zimbabwe, had lodged a complaint of unfair competition, whose evidence the
regulator however deemed not fit for any further action.
“In May 2023, the Commission received a complaint relating
to alleged increased imports of energy drinks from Zambia and South Africa. The
commission had to assess concerns submitted by Varun Beverages (Pvt) Ltd
(“Varun Beverages”), to determine whether a trade remedy investigation could be
undertaken and make recommendations on possible interventions that maybe
considered by the Government to protect local industry,” the report read.
According to CTC, the request by Varun was for a ban on
imports of energy drinks being imported into the country. “As alleged, Zimbabwe
imports energy drinks from Zambia and South Africa using SADC preferential
rates and/or COMESA,” CTC said.
However, Varun Beverages reportedly failed to submit strong
evidence and supporting arguments to the commission as requested in order for
its case to be pursued further.
CTC added, “The situation is exacerbated by the fact that
the industry has only one producer, unwilling to divulge pertinent information
to prove injury. This therefore implies that there is no alternative producer
of the relevant product that can supply the commission with information to
prove injury.”
In its conclusion, the CTC said the possibility of dumping
and subsidisation of the imports, in light of revelations that the local prices
were lower than those of imported products, was dismissed.
“The commission engaged the only local energy drinks
producer to avail information relevant for the investigation, which information
was not forthcoming. While the commission, in accordance with the safeguard
regulations, can initiate an investigation on its own, however, evidence is
still required to prove injury to the local industry. It was therefore
concluded that, without the domestic industry support to furnish the
information and evidence required, it could not proceed to initiate a safeguard
investigation,” they added.
The commission also concluded that allegations regarding
smuggling of energy drinks did not fall under its mandate and it recommended
that the Ministry of Industry and Commerce could better engage other Government
agencies to deal with smuggling of energy drinks into the country.
Imperative to note is that traditional trade defense tools
such as import prohibitions, quotas, and tariff hikes are not permissible as a
result of existing trade agreements under the Southern African Development
Community (SADC) and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa
(COMESA).
As a result, protective measures implementable are trade
remedies such as anti-dumping duties, countervailing duties and safeguard
measures, prescribed by the World Trade Organisation (WTO) agreements governing
such measures.
Anti-dumping and countervailing duties are additional
import duties imposed on goods in addition to normal applicable duties.
Anti-dumping and countervailing duties apply to imported goods sold in the
domestic market at prices substantially lower than their normal value and they
are meant to protect local industry from possible injury caused by dumping of
low-priced goods on the Zimbabwean market. Herald
0 comments:
Post a Comment