Last year China imposed anti-dumping duties on purchases of broiler chicken products from Brazil following a 10-month investigation that revealed that these types of imports “damaged the domestic breeding industry.”
These duties have now been extended into 2019 and Chinese importers of Brazilian chicken will be required to pay duties of up to 38.4 percent of the value of their shipments from Brazil.
According to the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, “during the period of damage investigated, the quantity of imported products and market share from Brazil have continuously increased, and the prices of similar domestic products have been drastically reduced, causing serious damage to domestic industries”.
It added that despite a positive trend in some areas of the domestic industry, selling prices and profits fell, while stocks increased, with the industry losing money.
Brazil accounted for more than 50 per cent of broiler products supplied to China, the world’s second biggest poultry consumer, between 2013 and 2016, the commerce ministry said when it announced a probe of the imports last August.
FairPlay contends that Brazilian chicken imports are doing similar damage to South Africa’s domestic industry. FairPlay calls on the Government of South Africa to impose protective tariffs on Brazilian chicken just as China has done.
Without unlimited imports of chicken from Brazil, the South African chicken industry easily has the capacity to produce enough chicken domestically, not simply to protect existing jobs but to create thousands of new sustainable jobs throughout the value chain.
