Excessive imports of grain hurting local farmers – Grain SA

27th January 2017

By: Megan van Wyngaardt

Creamer Media Contributing Editor Online

     

Font size: - +

Grain farmers association Grain SA has called for greater transparency in the reporting of import and export contracts, as local producers' competitiveness was being hampered by unchecked imports.

“Currently there is no mechanism to report import and export contracts. This is totally one-sided and only the traders have access to this information and the producers don’t.

“A great number of permits for US genetically modified organism (GMO) maize imports were [recently] issued; however, the same GMO events are not available to local producers. Such exceptions should only be made at times when food security is at risk,” the organisation argued, adding that excessive imports of maize would only put prices under further pressure.

“This is detrimental to the profitability of local grain producers, who are already facing pressures from a dry and difficult season,” it said.

Further, Grain SA noted that the imports caused great uncertainty and allowed market players to force the market in a certain direction.

“We feel strongly that a free market system can only function optimally if the market information is available to all role-players all the time. The declaration of import and export contracts, as well as changes to it, remains crucial to the market,” Grain SA said.

Edited by Chanel de Bruyn
Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor Online

Comments

The content you are trying to access is only available to subscribers.

If you are already a subscriber, you can Login Here.

If you are not a subscriber, you can subscribe now, by selecting one of the below options.

For more information or assistance, please contact us at subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za.

Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):

Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format

Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):

All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.

Already a subscriber?

Forgotten your password?

MAGAZINE & ONLINE

SUBSCRIBE

RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA

SUBSCRIBE

CORPORATE PACKAGES

CLICK FOR A QUOTATION