The South African poultry industry is stepping up its efforts to end the huge annual quota of US chicken imports, free of anti-dumping duties, that was forced on it 10 years ago.
Key takeaways:
- The US chicken quota was a condition of AGOA. It should end when South Africa’s AGOA benefits end on 1 January 2027.
- SAPA says it should already have gone, because US tariffs since April 2025 cancelled the benefits it was tied to.
- Government hasn’t answered SAPA’s letters, so SAPA has gone to court.
The chicken quota was a US condition for the 2016 renewal of the AGOA trade arrangement that benefited other South African industries. However, there are two reasons why it should fall away.
Firstly, the quota was linked to those other benefits – if they were lost, then the quota would be cancelled. As those benefits have been nullified by US tariffs since April 2025, the quota should have been history a year ago.
Secondly, the quota is part of AGOA and when South Africa’s benefits are terminated next January, the quota should also be cancelled.
Agricultural economist Wandile Sihlobo agrees. The quota “will have to fall away as we graduate from AGOA”, he wrote this week, adding that this “won’t necessarily affect poultry product supply and prices for South African households”.
For the moment, the South African government is not listening to either argument.
The SA Poultry Association (SAPA) sent trade minister Parks Tau several letters over the past year, arguing that the quota should go. Receiving no answer, SAPA has gone to court, seeking to force a government decision on the issue.
SAPA’s Izaak Breitenbach told News24 that when the case comes before a judge next month, SAPA will apply for a postponement until January, after South Africa’s AGOA exclusion takes effect.
“Should the government fail to halt the preferential trade agreement, SAPA says it will pursue legal action to compel it to do so,” News24 reported.
Breitenbach said the South African government has chosen not to scrap the agreement as part of its negotiating strategy to improve its trade relationship with the US.
The quota allows US bone-in chicken portions such as leg quarters to enter South Africa free of the anti-dumping duties that should apply. It was set at 65 000 tonnes in 2016 and rose to just under 74 000 tonnes last year.
Breitenbach said only about 24 000 tonnes of US bone-in chicken portions were exported to South Africa this year, due to bird flu outbreaks in several US states. Even so, he believed this should not have been allowed, and said that blocking the imports would have benefited local poultry producers, albeit marginally.
