Australia lifts ‘anti-dumping’ duty on Philippines canned pineapples —DA

The Australian government has decided to lift the 15-year anti-dumping measure it imposed on Philippine canned pineapples, the Department of Agriculture (DA) said Thursday.

An anti-dumping duty refers to a tariff imposed by a country on imports that it deemed below the fair market value of similar goods in its domestic market to protect local manufacturers.

In a statement, the DA said the Philippines can export canned pineapples to Australia duty-free once the anti-dumping measure is lifted on October 17, 2021 for consumer canned pineapples and on November 13, 2021 for Food Service Industrial (FSI) canned pineapples.

The duty-free exportation of Philippine-made canned pineapples is under the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement (AANZFTA).

The Australian government first imposed the anti-dumping measure in 2006 for a period of five years after Golden Circle Limited, the sole producer of canned pineapples in Australia, lodged an application requesting for the imposition of the measure on canned pineapples imported from the Philippines.

The measure was extended for another five years in 2011, and subsequently for another five years in 2016, according to the DA.

However, in its two reports issued on October 6, 2021, Australia’s Anti-Dumping Commission (ADC) decided to discontinue the anti-dumping measure on canned pineapples from the Philippines, “following findings that its expiration will neither lead to the dumping of the products concerned nor cause material injury to the domestic industry.”

The ADC initiated an expiry review on January 25, 2021, after Golden Circle sought for the extension of the imposition of the anti-dumping measure for another five years, the DA said.

Agriculture Secretary William Dar welcomed the favorable development, noting that the lifting of the anti-dumping measure will further strengthen trading relationships with Australia.

“Our trading relationship with Australia has been a healthy one, except for this kind of impediment that had blocked the entry of Philippine agriculture exports to that country,” Dar said.

“This is a most propitious opportunity for the Philippine pineapple sector, given its dramatic growth performance this past couple of years,” he said.

“Pineapple is the next fruit, following banana, that could capture a big slice of the export market given the country’s comparative advantage in producing said commodity,” he added. — BM, GMA News