The agency system of sales in the South African fresh product market is “definitely not under siege”, as suggested by the recent Competition Commission raids, say Produce Marketing Association Southern Africa GM, Lindie Stroebel and ZZ2 CEO, Tommie van Zyl.
The commission, last month, held search and seizure operations at the premises of various fresh produce market agents in Gauteng, Durban and Cape Town. The agents are suspected of involvement in alleged cartel and price-fixing conduct.
“The fresh produce markets, together with the integrated role of market agents, are critical to the South African and Southern African industry to enable market access for all producers and buyers,” Stroebel and Van Zyl noted in a joint statement issued on Wednesday.
Further, they stated that agents served as efficient aggregators of market forces from the supply and demand side. “Even a weak market signal of supply or demand can be translated into a price. Farmers in South Africa are spared the frustration of producing products with weak or no demand and no prices, as is happening in many parts of the world dominated by bilateral agreements or contract markets at wholesale or retail level.”
She argued further that the system enables large and small producers to have equal access to markets, whether domestic regional fresh produce markets, metropole fresh produce markets or export markets.
source: engineeringnews.co.za
