Tiger Brands’ associate company, National Foods, has lodged a complaint with the Zimbabwe Competition Commission over surging imports of pasta products from South Africa.
The Zimbabwean Competition Commission has launched a probe into pasta imports.
The investigation will examine pasta imports from South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Mozambique, China and Egypt.
“The Commission’s preliminary assessment indicates that the application contains sufficient evidence to warrant the initiation of a safeguard investigation into increased imports of the product under consideration, serious injury to the domestic industry and the causal link between the increased imports and the alleged injury,” it said in a notice.
This follows the commission’s observation that pasta imports into Zimbabwe have remained substantial since National Foods began domestic production in 2024 and increased during the period up to the end of December 2025.
Volumes of imported pasta into Zimbabwe grew from approximately 49.5 million kilograms in 2024 to 58.1 million kilograms in 2025.
The Competition Commission of Zimbabwe said this provides a sufficient basis to investigate whether “imports have increased in such quantities, absolute and relative to domestic production, and under such conditions as to cause or threaten serious injury” to the domestic industry.
Following a preliminary assessment, the commission said the local pasta manufacturing sector’s financial performance had deteriorated significantly. This included an increase in losses and a marked deterioration in its return on net assets.
“The domestic industry also continued to face significant import competition, with imported products accounting for approximately 87% to 88% of the domestic market during the period under consideration,” it explained.
Furthermore, imported pasta products were priced below domestic products, with observed price undercutting of up to 17.8%. As part of the investigation, the Competition Commission of Zimbabwe will establish whether increased imports have resulted in price undercutting, price depression or price suppression in the domestic market.
It will also examine the comparability of imported and domestically produced products, including differences in product mix, packaging, quality, branding and commercial levels, as well as other factors that may affect price comparisons.
National Foods, in which Tiger Brands has an interest, is the sole local producer of pasta.
Before localising pasta production in 2024, National Foods imported pasta products into the Zimbabwean market.
For the year to June, Innscor Africa, the local shareholder in National Foods, said the pasta division had achieved volume growth of 55%, driven by momentum in both the spaghetti and locally manufactured short-cut pasta categories.
THE NATIONAL