Guidelines published this week put an annual cap of 172 000 tonnes on the amount of chicken meat that could be subject to rebates on the applicable import tariffs. This is nearly equal to the total amount imported last year under these tariff headings.
The rebates would reduce to zero the current 30% import tariff on chicken offal (heads, feed, livers, etc.) and the 31% tariff on carcasses. Offal is imported in large quantities.
That’s 172 000 tonnes of chicken not reared on South African grain, and that didn’t create jobs on South African poultry farms.
The 62% import tariff on bone-in portions such as leg quarters would be reduced by 25%, and there would be a 30% reduction in the 42% tariff on boneless portions.
The 172 000 tonne annual quota will be divided into four equal quarterly quotas of 43 000 tonnes. The total is similar to the volume of these products imported last year.
The annual figure is not yet available, but by November 2023 South Africa had imported 80 000 tonnes of offal, 8 000 tonnes of carcasses, 66 000 tonnes of bone-in portions and 2 000 tonnes of boneless portions.
Chicken imported under the rebate scheme must be for local consumption and may not be re-exported.
