Chicken importers, not South African consumers, would benefit from reduced anti-dumping duties on imported chicken, according to FairPlay founder Francois Baird.
He told TV news channel ENCA that chicken importers had “fat profit margins” because low-cost dumped imports were sold at close to the price of locally produced chicken.
Reducing anti-dumping duties would not lower prices for consumers, he said, but would “allow importers to make enormous profits once again.”
Baird reminded viewers that anti-dumping duties were levied in terms for rules set by the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
“We are not against imports. We are against breaking the rules of the WTO. Anti-dumping duties are a penalty for breaking those rules.
“They should not be touched at all. They should not have been touched in the first place,” he said in reference to the 12-month delay imposed last August on new anti-dumping duties against chicken imports from Brazil and four European Union countries.
Baird added that keeping the anti-dumping duties in place would provide revenue that would make it easier for the government to remove value added tax (VAT) from locally produced chicken.
