The anti-dumping research started after a complaint from a local Brazilian potato researcher. According to this company, enormous volumes of cheap frozen potato products were imported into the country from Western Europe during the July 2016 - June 2015 period. The World Trade Organisation (WTO) provides an anti-dumping procedure when a government suspects sales prices of a company’s products to be lower in that country than the sales prices the companies have in their country of origin.
The impact for the Dutch and Belgian potato processing industry is large. During the December 2014 - November 2015 period, the Netherlands exported 83,000 tonnes of potato products to Brazil, converted into tonnes of potatoes that amounts to 166,000 tonnes. In 2014, Belgium exported more than 71,000 tonnes of potato products to this country, amounting to 142,000 tonnes of potatoes. In both countries, everything is now being done to reverse Brazil’s decision through diplomacy.