Scott Simpson: Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs discusses Chinese peach dumping

Last year, food giant Watties had to cut contracts with 20 peach growers, citing market dumping and Cyclone Gabrielle as the key factors for the decision.

An investigation by the government found that Chinese fruit company J&G International Co. Ltd. was indeed dumping peaches in to the market, causing 'material damage' to the industry. 

Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs Scott Simpson told Heather du Plessis-Allan that this situation unfortunately isn't rare. 

"It's not completely uncommon. We get probably 1 or 2 a year cases of dumping of product, not just peaches, a whole range of stuff."

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now do you remember last year when what he said
that it had to cancel those contracts with the peach
growers and Hawks Bay because of foreign dumping. It then
accused Chinese companies of dumping their product in the market
and harming our industry. Well, it turns out what.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
He's was right.

Speaker 1 (00:12):
The government has done a little investigation found Chinese fruit
company j Andng International had been dumping products in the
market and causing material damage to the industry. Minister of
Commerce and Consumer Affairs Scott Simpson is with US High
Scott Hi here that do how significant was the damage
that was caused?

Speaker 2 (00:30):
Well, the actual significance has yet to be finally determined.
So the first step has been taken. Heinz what he
made a complaint about dumping of Chinese imported peaches. MB
officials start a prescribed investigation and all this stuff is
prescribed in statute, so there is a process involved. They

(00:52):
go through that and then they prepare for me a
preliminary finding, a provisional finding that there was dumping from
just one Chinese importer. And I hasten to add that
it's not all Chinese peaches, It's not all imported peaches
as well, you know, we import peaches from many countries
around the world. So in this one case, there has

(01:12):
been a provisional finding that this company J and G
have dumped product into the New Zealand marketplace. And now
what happens after the provisional findings we made Mbigo away,
do some more detail work, find out whether there has
been material harm, whether there's a public interest test has
been applied, and then a final decisions made in a

(01:34):
couple of months.

Speaker 1 (01:34):
Time, and final decision on what on.

Speaker 2 (01:37):
Whether to impose a duty and extra duty on peaches
that are imported by this J and G company. So
that's how we would put to write the price differential.
So effectively you're charging them at the border a percentage
extra to make their product competitive in a way that's

(01:59):
not dumb.

Speaker 1 (02:00):
Okay, but this is this would be presumably impults from
that point on worth it's onwards. It's not retrospective, right,
whatever damage they've already done goes kind of I suppose unpunished.

Speaker 2 (02:11):
Oh well, yes, indeed. But you can be assured that
businesses like Hineswadi are very good at spotting behavior of
the sort. It's not completely uncommon. We get probably one
or two a year cases of dumping of product, not
just peatures, a whole range of stuff. So there is
a process. It is a prescribed thing and MB officials

(02:32):
work their way through it, as do I as minister.

Speaker 1 (02:34):
Okay, do you know how long it had been going
on for? When did it start?

Speaker 2 (02:38):
Yeah? Well, there've been problem with peatures for some years.
There was a previous case I think back in about
twenty fifteen twenty sixteen a case of dumping was found
with peaches that got remedied. But again it's a matter
of being constantly alert, constantly vigilant because of course reasonably

(02:59):
large volumes of imported peatures coming into the country every
year and prices fluctuate, they go up, they go down,
some traders disappear, new entrants arrive, So it's a matter
of being constantly alert and constantly for job.

Speaker 1 (03:14):
I mean, because I'm looking at a graph that newsroom
dot co, dot and z has published and published and
it looks like the dumping might have started. Oh I
don't want to lie, but I mean it might have
even been Q four of twenty twenty three when it
started taking off. So it's been going on for a while.
So our system whereby we wait for a complaint and
then we do an investigation, and then we think about
applying some duties and stuff. It's quite clunky, isn't it.

(03:35):
Like it takes a long time to remedy something like.

Speaker 2 (03:38):
This, longer than many people would want. But there does
need to be pretty careful and thorough investigation done, and
sometimes that involves getting a lot of data from overseas.
You know, it's relatively easy to make an allegation of dumping,
but checking it out, finding the detail and actually getting

(03:58):
to the bottom of it can take a bit of time.
So I'd rather we did it properly and carefully than
made a mistake.

Speaker 1 (04:03):
Hey, listen, all roads open to Corimandal this holiday weekend.

Speaker 2 (04:07):
Everything good, Oh, Heather, I'm so pleased to ask you
absolutely to all the listeners corimandlers. Open roads are open,
and the good people are coremanded, and the businesses we're
welcoming with open arms all and everybody that wants to
come and spend a fantastic white tonguey weekend in the
beautiful Coramandal.

Speaker 1 (04:23):
Good stuff. Hey, thank you very much, Scott really appreciate
a Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs Scott Simpsons.

Speaker 2 (04:28):
For more from Heather Duplessy Alan Drive, listen live to
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