The debate about tariff rebates on South Africa’s chicken imports featured strongly in the Citizen newspaper this week.
The newspaper published in full an article in which FairPlay founder Francois Baird pointed out that the rebates were not needed, should never have been introduced and threatened local poultry farmers and local jobs.
In addition, the Citizen carried a lengthy article contrasting the views of Baird, chicken importer Fred Hume and the SA Poultry Association (SAPA) on the rebates issue.
FairPlay and SAPA have both attacked the rebates as unnecessary, because they were introduced to counter a shortage of chicken which did not exist then and does not exist now.
Baird also pointed out errors in the arguments of importer Hume, which the Citizen had previously published and repeated in this article to illustrate the debate. Baird took issue with Hume’s view that imports were not harmful because importers and local producers were not competing for the same market.
Official import statistics showed Hume’s arguments were wrong, Baird said. Subsidised imports would exacerbate the current oversupply and take market share from local chicken farmers.
The issue now is whether the rebates will be repeated for a second quarter, from April to June this year.
Trade regulator ITAC, which administers the rebates, told the Citizen said it was working in concert with the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development (DALRRD), and other stakeholders to determine whether production levels had stabilised and if avian flu was contained.
“ITAC is currently engaged in a process of evaluating the situation in line with the framework outlined in the Guidelines, to ensure that we are in a position to make an informed decision pertaining to the possible issuance of permits for the following quarter,” a spokesperson said.
Baird’s view is that this “informed decision” should only have one outcome – the rebates would not be repeated for a second three months.
“There was no justification for them then, and there is no justification for them now,” Baird concluded.
