Chicken import tariffs under attack

The Association of Meat Importers and Exporters (AMIE) continues to boast about the success and potential of beef exports, but says nothing about what, if anything, it is doing to promote chicken exports.

The issue is important, because AMIE has considerable exporting expertise and is a signatory to the poultry master plan, which makes chicken exports a key priority.

AMIE has just signed a co-operation agreement with the SA Freight and Logistics Association (Safla) to deepen their collaboration on meat trade logistics, port operations and regulatory issues.

“In a media release, the parties explain that the partnership will support constructive dialogue on port operations, border processes, veterinary and sanitary requirements, market access, rail and road connectivity and supply-chain resilience,” Engineering News reported.

These are all issues that have kept chicken exports well below potential, but AMIE seems focused on red meat, not chicken.

AMIE estimates that South Africa exported about 81 000 tonnes of red meat, including beef, sheep and goat meat, worth about R63-billion between January 2025 and May 2026, the report said.

No mention of the fact that, over that same period, South Africa exported nearly 58 000 tonnes of chicken. Or the fact that the poultry master plan aims to double and treble those numbers, which would mean substantial revenues for AMIE members.

FairPlay has asked repeatedly what AMIE is doing to facilitate and promote chicken exports, according to its responsibilities outlined in the poultry master plan. The response has been generalities, not specifics.

AMIE bristles at the suggestion that its silence might be hiding inaction. But the question remains: Why is AMIE so voluble about beef, but so shy about chicken?

For the fifth year in a row, South Africa’s poultry producers have donated chicken and eggs to organisations cooking soup to help feed poor people on Mandela Day.

Mandela Day is celebrated in South Africa by individuals and organisations doing good works to commemorate former president Nelson Mandela’s birthday on 18 July.

The poultry industry contributes to the Mandela Day soup challenge run annually by the NGO Chefs with Compassion. The result this year was a record 113 610 litres of soup, which translated into more than 10 million individual meals served to people in need across South Africa.

Details were published in the Poultry Bulletin, official journal of the SA Poultry Association (SAPA).

Poultry producers Astral, Rainbow and Country Bird donated substantial amounts of chicken to the project, and Quantum supplied dozens and dozens of eggs.

Organiser Dasen Sarungasar told the Poultry Bulletin that the poultry industry had been the biggest single contributor to the soup challenge, year after year,

“The massive donations of chicken and eggs by our poultry donors are a highlight for us, because it is so rare to have high-value protein available for our efforts,” he said.

Chefs with Compassion specialises in collecting food which would otherwise go to waste and turning it into nutritious meals for community food schemes and hunger-relief programmes.

Twenty-five American states are suing the Trump administration over its latest tariffs, calling them a pretext for replacing import tariffs that were declared illegal earlier this year.

The tariffs of between 10% and 12% were imposed last month, the third round of tariffs since President Trump’s 30% “Liberation Day” tariffs announced last April.

When those were struck down by the US Supreme Court in February this year, new 10% tariffs were imposed for 150 days.

When that period ran out last month, the Trump administration announced the latest tariffs, on the basis that 59 countries and the European Union had not done enough to crack down on imports produced by forced labour, the Associated Press reported.

Now 25 US states, led by New York, are challenging the new tariffs.

“After losing at the Supreme Court, the administration is once again trying to illegally raise taxes on families and businesses with a new round of tariffs,” said New York Attorney General Letitia James.

The Trump administration is refunding the Round 1 tariffs that were declared illegal. A legal challenge to the Round 2 tariffs was launched in March. Now the Round 3 tariffs, too, are under legal threat.

South Africa is better prepared for the next bird flu outbreak in every respect except vaccination against the disease, according to Izaak Breitenbach of the SA Poultry Association.

Key takeaways:

• Red tape is stalling protection: Bureaucratic delays are holding back a crucial mass bird flu vaccination rollout in South Africa.
• Culling isn’t enough: Global strategies are shifting toward vaccination to reduce the virus load and prevent more catastrophic outbreaks, like the one in South Africa in 2023.
• Government support is crucial: The poultry industry is urging the new agriculture minister to simplify onerous regulations and subsidise the cost of vaccines for farmers.

Breitenbach said that, while vaccination was being looked at worldwide as an essential control measure, bureaucratic obstacles continued to delay a mass vaccination programme in South Africa.

The H5 bird flu strain that had spread worldwide was “a nightmare” to control, he told the Afrikaans language radio station AgriOrbit.

“It is not possible to eradicate the bird flu virus through mass culling,” he said.

“Most of the first world countries who do not vaccinate are now looking at starting a vaccination programme”.

Vaccination reduced the likelihood of poultry flocks becoming infected, and when multiple flocks were vaccinated, the virus load in the environment was reduced because vaccinated birds were not shedding the virus.

That would prevent a disastrous outbreak such as the one in 2023 that devastated South Africa’s poultry industry.

Breitenbach outlined two actions he hoped new agriculture minister Willie Aucamp would take to promote a mass vaccination campaign.

The first was to implement revised regulations for vaccination, to replace the “onerous” requirements that were holding up a vaccination programme. The new regulations had been prepared in response to complaints from the poultry industry, but not yet published.

The second was that the government would help poultry producers by subsidising or bearing the full cost of the vaccination, as it had done for beef producers in the national vaccination programme against foot and mouth disease.

“We want to incentivise as many farmers as possible to vaccinate, so we won’t have another mass outbreak such as we had in 2023,” Breitenbach said.

The Association of Meat Importers and Exporters of Southern Africa (AMIE) loves chicken imports but it is not very good at promoting chicken exports. It’s also not very good about answering questions about its chicken export activities, or inactivities.

Since AMIE signed the first poultry master plan in 2019, it has remained silent while FairPlay has repeatedly asked what it is doing to boost chicken imports, in line with its master plan commitments. When the master plan was revised this year, again with AMIE’s signature, we asked the same questions. More silence.

Now, at last, Amie has been stung into response by out latest queries. The response should embarrass them because it implies that they are doing very little to help expand chicken exports. Strange, when more chicken exports would earn them more money.

Earlier this month, FairPlay noted that Amie was voluble about bureaucratic obstacles to beef exports but issued no angry press statements when the same problems faced chicken producers. What, we asked, was Amie doing to help address state veterinary shortages which hamper exports. Had it used its export contacts and experience to suggest new export markets for chicken or to urge government to sign new export agreements?

The answers, in the AMIE mouthpiece Chickenfacts this week, were revealing.

Within the poultry master plan, it says, AMIE is responsible for collaborating with government and industry to:

• Improve export certification systems.
• Address veterinary service capacity.
• Streamline export protocols for poultry and red meat.
• Support the development of new export markets.

Has it done any of this? AMIE replies with a generality that it “is actively fulfilling its role within the Poultry Master Plan and continues to engage government on the regulatory reforms necessary to unlock export growth.”

The only specific is that “AMIE has also engaged with the Minister of Agriculture to review the inefficiencies in the Animal Health Department – contradicting FairPlay’s assertion that the association has been inactive.”

Two cheers! AMIE has “engaged” with a government minister about veterinary inefficiencies. And what else? From the coy way AMIE has framed its answers, it would appear not much.

So FairPlay will keep on asking, using Amie’s four points of what it is supposed to be doing.

The United States has implemented a third round of global tariffs, hitting South Africa and dozens of other nations with a 12.5% levy over forced labour allegations. In response, South Africa is pursuing new legislation to reduce the rate, though key product exemptions offer some immediate relief to local exporters.

The third round of President Donald Trump’s global tariffs came into effect last week, as his 10% Round 2 tariffs expired. 

Round 1 – the initial 30% “reciprocal” tariffs imposed in April 2025 – were declared illegal this year, and are being refunded.

Round 3 has two levels – 12.5% for South Africa and most other US trading partners, and 10% for a favoured few.

They are being applied to 60 countries in terms of Section 301 of America’s 1974 Trade Act, which authorises actions to address unfair foreign practices affecting US commerce. In this case, the unfair practice was alleged to be a failure to stop the importation of goods produced with forced labour.

All countries investigated were found guilty, including those that, like South Africa, made presentations in Washington to show they had not done what they were accused of. 

Three questions are being asked – will Round 3 tariffs last longer than the previous attempts, might they be reduced, and how badly will the 12.5% tariffs affect South Africa?

On question 1, the first legal challenge was launched on the day the tariffs were announced, but US analysts believe that this this time they may be more difficult to dislodge. So they could be in effect for some time.

Might the tariffs be reduced? The South African government hopes so. It has signalled its intention to introduce legislation prohibiting the import of goods produced with forced labour. The objective is to have the tariffs reduced to 10% or less, or eliminated entirely.

On question 3, Engineering News points out that several products remain exempted, including platinum and other precious metals, various citrus products and other fruits, fruit juices and nuts. In addition, the 12.5% tariffs are also applied to most of South Africa’s agricultural competitors.

While the playing field remains elevated, at least it’s level.