Tiger Brands rejects food price caps as SAHRC probes South Africa’s food system

Tiger Brands has warned against introducing food price caps, saying they could weaken South Africa’s food production system and make it harder for manufacturers and farmers to produce affordable food.

Food price caps are government-imposed legal upper limits on how much retailers can charge for specific food items

The company made a submission to the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) on Monday during the second leg of its national investigative hearing into South Africa’s food system.

The hearings, which run until Friday, come after the commission heard evidence from government departments and civil society organisations in March.

During the first phase, concerns were raised about market concentration, food affordability and the role of large companies in shaping South Africa’s food system.

The commission then decided to call major players across the food value chain, including manufacturers, retailers, farmers and agribusinesses, to give evidence.

The inquiry was launched after complaints received by the SAHRC and its own monitoring found growing concerns about access to adequate food.

The commission said millions of South Africans experience hunger despite the country’s ability to produce enough food

Presenting Tiger Brands’ submission, chief corporate affairs and sustainability officer Werna Oberholzer said food affordability was important but warned that price controls were not the answer.

“We recognise and support the importance of improving food affordability. However, we also believe it is important to consider the long-term health of the food production ecosystem,” Oberholzer told the commission.

She said manufacturers and farmers needed enough income to continue investing in factories, food safety, transport, infrastructure and innovation.

“Price caps or zero margin rules can weaken the financial viability of manufacturers and their suppliers and may discourage sustained investment in capacity, infrastructure and innovation.”

Oberholzer said many of the biggest drivers of food prices were beyond manufacturers’ control, including global commodity prices, exchange rates, weather events and geopolitical tensions.

Instead, she said Tiger Brands had focused on improving efficiency across its operations through manufacturing improvements and supply chain savings.

“Our productivity and efficiency programmes are not simply improving business performance. They’re also helping us to moderate price increases that are faced by consumers during a period of significant economic pressure,” she said.

Oberholzer said solving South Africa’s food security challenges would require co-operation across the sector.

“No single participant can solve South Africa’s food security challenges alone. Meaningful progress will require sustained collaboration across the entire food system,” she said.

The SAHRC criticised agricultural company Syngenta for not appearing before the inquiry after opting to make written submissions instead.

The commission also expressed disappointment that agricultural services company Afgri had neither submitted written representations nor communicated with the commission, warning that it could use its investigative powers if necessary.

TimesLIVE