There’s good news for the South African poultry industry, despite the 12-month delay in implementing new anti-dumping duties against Brazil and four EU countries – Denmark, Ireland, Poland and Spain.
It’s now a proven fact that all five countries have been dumping frozen chicken portions in South Africa, that this dumping has caused material harm to the local poultry industry, and that anti-dumping duties are warranted in terms of international trade regulations.
As the International Trade Administration Commission (ITAC) made clear in its statement, the application by the South African poultry industry for these anti-dumping duties has been investigated and found to be valid.
Secondly, Trade, Industry and Competition Minister Ebrahim Patel has accepted ITAC’s recommendation and agreed to the imposition of appropriate anti-dumping duties.
The bad news, of course, is that implementation has been delayed for 12 months. The industry will no doubt be doing its best to get that reversed, because chicken imports from Brazil in particular rose steeply in the period that provisional tariffs were in force. Now there’s no deterrent at all.
