New Zealand produced canned peaches could be a thing of the past if anti-dumping legislation is removed, the industry says.
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Anti-dumping legislation is in place for certain products to restrict other countries selling products in New Zealand at a price lower than the cost of production.
The Government has released a discussion paper on the matter, and submissions on that have just closed.
It aims to establish whether or not it is in the wider public interest to keep anti-dumping legislation in place.
Summerfruit New Zealand said peaches were the only fresh produce still covered by the legislation.
Chief executive Marie Dawkins is concerned Government focus is on building supplies and does not take into account what would happen to the fresh produce industry.
"If the changes to the anti-dumping legislation come into effect, it would allow the importation of extremely cheap peaches from other countries such as China, South Africa or Greece, which would undermine the New Zealand peach canning industry.
"We have a significant number of growers who grow Golden Queen solely for the canning and supply to New Zealand, and the risk is if this extremely cheap material comes in, it will no longer be economic for Heinz Watties to can New Zealand peaches and that industry will effectively fail."
She said the industry feared it would go the same way as canned apricots which she said was largely non-existent since cheap imports were allowed in 2001.
"An anti-dumping regulation did exist at one time on apricots - that ceased in 2001 and within about five or six years, canning of apricots out of Roxdale in Central Otago ceased."
President of Hawke's Bay Fruit Growers Association, Lesley Wilson, said a number of people grow the Golden Queen Peach variety for canning.
Ms Wilson said if the legislation is lifted, many of those growers would suffer significant financial losses.
"The Golden Queen peach industry is worth $15 million to Hawke's Bay economy alone. I've heard it from growers and from consultants that even one year of lost income from production, due to dumped fruit, will put the business out of business, so growers will out trees, they'll go broke, jobs will be lost."
