When will chicken importers tell the truth about anti-dumping duties?
They exaggerated the impact of new duties before they were imposed in August this year and have done so ever since.
Importers like to create the impression that imported chicken is going to be hit with 265% duties, and that retail chicken prices will rocket as a result.
They don’t tell you that anti-dumping duties of between 2% and 7% will apply to the vast majority of chicken imports from the five countries involved – Brazil, Denmark, Ireland, Poland, and Spain. And they don’t mention that four large producers – two in Brazil and two in Poland – will pay no additional duties at all.
Instead, it’s all about 265%, the rate that will definitely not apply to most imports of bone-in chicken such as leg quarters. Importers don’t explain that it is the rate for Brazilian producers who did not co-operate with South Africa’s investigation into chicken dumping. Those that did – the big producers that supply most chicken imports – ended up with far lower duties, or none at all.
The chief propagandist for the 265% number is Fred Hume, head of chicken importer Hume International. He has repeatedly used only that number in media interviews and did so again in a recent interview with ENCA.
In an otherwise balanced and reasonable look at the impact of bird flu on chicken supplies, and the role of imports in the domestic market, Hume was neither balanced nor reasonable when it came to anti-dumping duties. He hammered them as “punitive” and mentioned only one number – 265%.
FairPlay will keep on highlighting this inaccuracy until chicken importers stop using it.
