South Africa’s poultry industry could make a positive contribution to the trade talks with the United States if it was invited to join the discussion, according to Marthinus Stander, CEO of Rainbow, a major poultry producer.
In an interview with the Afrikaans radio station RSG, Stander said the 72 000-tonne annual quota of US chicken imports free of anti-dumping duties should have ended, because it was a condition of the lapsed African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). The benefits that AGOA had given to other industries – but not the poultry industry – had vanished with it.
The poultry industry understood that the quota was being offered again in negotiations aimed at lowering the 30% US tariffs on imports from South Africa. However there were no details, as the poultry industry was not involved in the discussions.
Poultry producers were excluded from negotiations where they were being asked to make concessions to the US without any benefits for the poultry industry.
“We are prepared to come to the table, if we can get a chair there. We are prepared to do good things for the country, if AGOA can still be saved.
“But then we must understand what benefits are being offered to other industries, and what benefits our own industry might get,” Stander said.
