The local potato industry has assured South Africans that it would be able to meet local demand for French fries after heavy “anti-dumping” duties were imposed by the International Trade Administration Commission (Itac) in July last year on Belgium, German and Dutch suppliers.
As Kristin Engel reports for IOL, when the duties were announced there was concern that South Africans could face a severe shortage of French fries as it curbed imports from its usual European frozen chips markets.
But Potatoes SA acting marketing manager, Jaco Koekemoer, said the country has a sufficient supply of fresh potatoes, with forecasts looking promising over the next 12 months.
Koekemoer said: “There is ample produce to meet frozen chip manufacturing demand, and satisfy customer and retail appetites. What’s more, there are 16 potato production regions across South Africa, and a continuous supply of potatoes is delivered to fresh produce markets on a daily basis.”
However, Koekemore said the major challenge facing potato producers was load shedding and it’s disruption of food production, as well as cheap imports.
Source: IOL. Read the full story here
Photo: Credit Karen Sandison/African News Agency via IOL
