Growers fear catastrophe
South Canterbury’s potato industry is hoping for Government intervention to prevent a potentially ‘‘catastrophic’’ surplus of discounted European potatoes being dumped in New Zealand.
The country’s $1 billion potato sector is bracing for the influx as a result of the temporary closure of the food service industry and industry subsidies due to Covid-19 in Europe.
With a 2.6 million tonne surplus, the price of potatoes has been pushed from pre-pandemic prices of 200 Euros a tonne to 15 Euros.
A McCain Foods spokesperson provided information which showed some European governments were supporting the industry by allowing price cartels and farmer subsidies.
The result could be thousands of tonnes of frozen fries being dumped here at prices up to 80 per cent below market price.
‘‘[This] would be catastrophic for our potato growers, it poses a risk to our business as a processor and the hundreds of regional jobs we support,’’ the spokesperson said.
Kiwi-owned Makikihi Fries manager Stewart Hydes said they only use Canterbury grown potatoes to produce products.
He said the ‘‘Think Local, Buy Local’’ campaign was futile if the excess potatoes were allowed on the New Zealand market.
‘‘There’s no point having a, ‘Think Local, Buy Local’ campaign, if you allow the dumping of one-off, cheap, subsidised product that actually risks killing the local industry, and jobs,’’ Hydes said.
He said the volume of officiallydeclared surplus potatoes was greater than the annual harvest of New Zealand and Australia combined.
‘‘We have spent over 35 years building our brand, and we do not want to see it destroyed, within what could be a very short timeframe.
‘‘We cannot compete against heavilysubsidised products such as this entering our markets.’’
Hydes said that though it was a temporary issue it could have a longterm impact on the country as there could potentially be shortages of potatoes and fries, once the Covid-19 glut was gone.
‘‘This will not benefit consumers, or the industry, in the medium-term,’’ Hydes said.
Geraldine potato farmer Guy Slater said it was an uncertain time for growers especially as New Zealand was the ninth biggest exporter of french fries.
He said growers were in a good position to supply the local market as they could offer fewer food miles and transcended the problem of the shipping container shortage.
He wants to see the Government enact the anti-dumping law.
‘‘They could be protecting a lot of jobs.’’
He would like to see a ban on imports for six months to alleviate the problem and so tariffs would not be activated.
‘‘It’s amazing how New Zealand has prevented Covid spreading, and I’m proud we continued as an essential service.
‘‘For European growers to benefit out of how well we’ve done as a country is not right.’’