PPECB implements levies and tariffs

'All well within inflation rate' ALAN PEAT IN A recent release, the Perishable Products Export Control Board (PPECB) announced the imposition – effective April 1 – of levies and tariffs related to various perishable products. These were listed as: • Sea levies; • Container inspection levies; • Laboratory fees; and • Other levies. There’s nothing new here, according to Mike Walwyn of Seaboard and Craig Campbell of Grindrod PCA, just the usual annual adjustment. But, they added, these are costs directly billed to the exporter. Speaking for exporters, Chris Bennet of African Supply and Procurement, confirmed our commentators’ lack of concern. “I’ve examined all the levies that affect us,” he said, “and found them all to be well within the inflation rate.” And, he added, there was no complaint about these charges in the perishable export industry, the PPECB carrying out the necessary checks and examinations in an efficient and businesslike manner. “We’re getting what we paid for,” Bennet said.