FRESH PRODUCE MARKET INQUIRY IDENTIFIES ‘SIGNIFICANT BARRIERS TO COMPETITION’

FRESH PRODUCE MARKET INQUIRY IDENTIFIES ‘SIGNIFICANT BARRIERS TO COMPETITION’

• 14 January 2025
• Trade, Industry & Competition
• SA Legal Academy

While inadequate funding may well have led to widespread inefficiencies in municipal fresh produce markets, two other factors have been found to restrict, impede or distort competition at municipal level. According to an executive summary of the Competition Commission’s final report on its inquiry into the fresh produce market, they are:

• a ‘lack of participation’ by small and medium farm enterprises SME and farmers from historically disadvantaged communities, and
• the ‘inconsistency of several key bylaws’.

Other ‘significant barriers to competition’ include:

• the conduct and practices of market agents
• ‘high input costs (especially for fertilizers and seeds)’, and
• ‘regulatory hurdles’.

Begun in March 2023, the inquiry culminated in report gazetted well after its launch. This notwithstanding, among other things a media statement released with the executive summary notes that 31 ‘practical recommendations’ have been made with the aim of ‘promoting competition, reducing barriers to entry, and promoting a more inclusive fresh produce value chain’. They include ‘calls for policy reforms, market restructuring, and targeted support for small-scale and historically disadvantaged farmers’.

• full report
• executive summary
• media statement

Published by SA Legal Academy Policy Watch

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