Dumping The Competition, And Scarring Off Investors: The Impact And Influence Of The South African Anti-Dumping And Competition Measures On Foreign Direct Investment

Abstract

Since the dawn of democracy South Africa has embarked in a process of dismantling protectionist business and trade policies, and made the countrys stream of commerce one of the preferred globally. The countrys sound competition and trade policies, natural resource endowments, market size and regional influence, attracted foreign businesss and foreign direct invetsment (FDI). Equally the country has been under pressure to protect the domestic industries from injurious competition and business, through sector specific laws, anti-dumping and countervailing duties laws, investment and competition regime. The concern has been the likilelihood of the introduction of trade and competition barriers, and the allienation of FDI. This paper critically examines the impact the countrys antidumping and competition law and practice upon foreign direct investment. Domestic industries have never been shy file anti-dumping and anti-competition suits against foreign companies, sometimes even against the public interest outcry. Relevant examples of these suits include the famous Wal-Mart anti-competition case, and recently the Brazilian frozen fowl meat anti-dumping case.

A framework for dumping-based economies during the Covid-19 pandemic: A case of South African economy

“…Although countries should promote foreign direct investment, specific measures are required to well-manage the pros and cons of business competition. Sibanda (2014) argued that in the journey to protect local economies against global competition, anti-dumping duties and foreign competition laws have contravened foreign direct investment in the country (Kruger, 2012). At this level, the solutions reside in the implementation of adjusted trading measures that suit all business parties while considering local market size, natural resources capabilities as well as regional strengths and weaknesses.…”

“…However, some countries do implement anti-dumping practices as protectionism mechanisms that defend local economy expansion. South Africa is characterised by major macroenonmic imbalance like high unemployment rate, poverty, inequality and in addition to fiscal fragility, low investment and declining economic growth (Sibanda, 2014). The national state of disaster was announced on the 15 th of March 2020 following surge in Covid-19 cases (DTI, 2021).…”

“…Following guidelines raised by the World Trade Organisation (WTO), the dumping approach is to be reviewed to protect domestic improvement while enhancing recovery (Tao, 2006). Arrangements between the G20 countries provide members with the legitimate right of implementing trade defence techniques at the benefit of domestic economy enhancement (Sibanda, 2014). Although the WTO includes anti-dumping measures, it has not yet become part of the municipality laws since it is still to be promulgated by the South African parliament (WTO, 2021).…”

Do Import Tariff Adjustments Bolster Domestic Production? Analysis of the South African-Brazilian Poultry Market Case

“…However, industrial policies and practices together with import tariffs as instruments of trade policy that are applied at different stages of agricultural value chains are motivated by a search for beneficial economic and market outcomes, often leading to contestations, disputes, and policy reversals in sectors of strategic national importance such as in the poultry sector of South Africa. Disputes focused on imported poultry, specifically broiler meat from Brazil into South Africa has received much attention in literature (Sibanda 2014;Khanderia 2016;van der Westhuizen 2016;Hobbs et al 2018;Lehloenya 2018). Such studies have elaborated the pursuit of policies centered around increased import tariffs to deter poultry imports, protect domestic production, and possibly entice producers to expand local production in order to fill the potential import gap created by increased demand for livestock products.…”