The International Trade Administration Commission (Itac) has asked the South African Reserve Bank to impose provisional duties on imports of active yeast originating in or imported from Zimbabwe for six months while further investigation into allegations of dumping is under way.

Itac has been investigating the alleged dumping of active yeasts originating in or imported from Zimbabwe since August last year.

The commission first received a complaint on the matter in October 2022, which was lodged by the only producer of active yeast in the Southern African Custom Union (SACU), Rymco – trading as Anchor Yeast.

Some evidence gathered by Itac has showed that the subject product is being imported into SACU at dumped prices. Particularly, 635 250 kg of dumped imports from Zimbabwe are estimated to have occurred in 2022.

Active yeast is used in the preparation of food and beverages for human and animal consumption.

Itac has confirmed in a preliminary determination that the dumping of compressed yeast from a particular supplier in Zimbabwe is taking place and that there is material injury to the SACU industry – or Anchor Yeast – in the form of price undercutting, price suppression, declining sales volume, impact on market share, declining profitability, declining output, declined employment, decreased return on investment, declined capacity utilisation, lower cash flow, increased inventory levels and declines in growth.

Anchor Yeast stated in its submission to the commission that there are no differences between the imported product and its product, meaning they are fully substitutable and identical in all aspects.

The commission is of the view that Anchor Yeast would continue to experience material injury during the course of the investigation if provisional duties are not imposed. 

It was found that the imported product from Zimbabwe has undercut Anchor Yeast’s selling price by 79% during the period of investigation.

The commission is in the process of making its final determination and recommendation to Trade, Industry and Competition Minister Ebrahim Patel.