Farmer’s Weekly – 09 August 2019

Weekly neWsWrap

ABOVE:

TheCompetition

Commissionhas

givenitsconditional

approvalfor

theR4,8-billion

acquisitionof

CloverIndustriesby

MilcoSA,aninvestor

consortium.

FWArchive

16 farmer’sweekly 9 August 2019

TheNamibianMinistryofFinance

has announced that imported

animal feed will now be exempted

from value-added tax (VAT) in an

effort to mitigate the effect of the

drought on farmers in that country.

The decision followed an

application made by the Namibia

Agricultural Union (NAU) in May.

The exemption applied only to

individual commercial and communal

livestock producers importing the

feed for their own use, and not for

the purpose of resale. Retailers did

not qualify for the exemption.

Producers who imported animal

feed were requested to notify the

authorities at least three days before

the goods reached points of entry

into the country to allow sufficient

time for customs clearance.

RynovanderMerwe,presidentof

NAU, welcomed the announcement,

saying that local supplies of animal

feed had been virtually depleted.

“This VAT exemption ... means that

the importation of feed would have

less of an impact on the producers’

already compromised cash flow.”

According to him, the entire

country was experiencing unrelenting

drought conditions, and had received

well below-average rainfall during

five of the past seven years.

“Rangelands are depleted,

and both livestock and grain

producers find themselves in a

dire financial state,” he said.

Commodities such as lucerne, wheat

straw, maize stover and silage were

exempt from VAT, according to a

statement issued by the government.

Thelistofproductsexempt from

VAT included energy and protein

concentrates such as maize chop, soya

bean, sunflower, and cotton oilcake,

as well as maize meal and molasses.

To qualify for the exemption, farmers

were required to provide the Ministry

of Finance with proof of registration

with the Meat Board of Namibia, or

registration with any other legally

recognised registration authority.

The exemption was allowed in

terms of Namibian tax regulations,

which allowed for the importation

of goods for relief in cases of famine

or other national disasters. It did not

apply to the importation of capital

goods, however, and would remain

in force until the official state of

emergency announced earlier this

year was uplifted. – Annelie Coleman

Drought

Namibia exempts animal feed from VAT to help farmers

TheCompetitionCommission
(CompCom)hasgiven
conditionalapprovalforthe
MilcoSAconsortium’sintended
acquisitionofallissuedshares
inCloverforR4,8billion,also
referredtoastheCloverScheme.
Accordingtoa recentStock
ExchangeNewsService
(SENS)statement,theboards
ofbothCloverandMilcoSA
expressedsatisfactionwith
theCompCom’sdecision.
Someoftheconditionsofthe
CompCom’sapprovalforthe
acquisitionwerethatthemerging
partiescontinueprocuringjuice
concentratefromtheircurrent
localsuppliersfora setperiod;
thatthecompaniesinvolved
implementmeasurestoprevent
thesharingofcompetitively
sensitiveinformation;thatthe
mergingpartiesnotretrench
anyemployeesfora set
period;thatthepartiescreate
a numberofnewpermanent

employmentpositionswithina

certaintimeframefollowingthe

acquisition;thatthepartiesset

upa R10-millionreskillingfund

forexistingemployees;andthat

employeeswhomaylosetheir

jobsfollowingtheend-dateofthe

mandatorynon-retrenchment

periodbegivenpreferencein

termsofnewjobvacancies.

Thematterwasreferredtothe

CompetitionTribunalfora final

decisionintheupcomingweeks.

“AssoonasCloverand

MilcoSAhavecertainty

aboutthefulfilmentofthe

remainingCloverScheme

conditionsprecedent,a joint

finalisationannouncementwill

bereleasedbySENS,setting

outtheremainingsalientdates

andtimespertainingtothe

implementationoftheClover

Scheme,”thestatementsaid.

Anoperationalupdateand

tradingstatement,releasedby

CloverinMay,saidthefirst

Business

Milco SA’s acquisition

of Clover on track

quarter of 2019 had posed “tough

trading conditions” for the

company, but Clover had still

been able to increase its market

share in various categories on the

back of marketing investment

and additional trade support.

“Clover continues to operate in

a very uncertain environment,

having experienced a number

of short-term setbacks and

challenges. However, there

have been some positive

advances that will be realised

in the next financial year and

beyond.” – Lloyd Phillips