Agriculture

Trade tariffs set for review in new poultry master plan

The South African poultry industry is pushing for a renewed focus on restructuring the country’s trade tariffs to curb illegal chicken imports.

Tariff restructuring was included in the 2019 poultry master plan but, after a promising start, got nowhere. Former trade minister Ebrahim Patel commissioned an investigation into the issue, and then sat on the report for a year or more. Its recommendations are unknown.

Now the master plan is being revised under a new minister, and the industry is raising it as a priority.

In an article in the industry’s latest Poultry Bulletin, Izaak Breitenbach of the SA Poultry Association (SAPA), set out the issues the government and the industry are looking to include in an updated master plan.

These include the removal of value added tax (VAT) from chicken, approval of vaccinations against bird flu, a revived export drive and the tariff restructuring.

SAPA and new trade minister Parks Tau met in August and follow up meetings are planned.

“Minister Tau has asked for four focus areas to be included in the revised master plan, namely transformation, localisation, skills development and export promotion. The meeting decided to keep the master plan’s existing five pillars and to propose actions under these pillars,” Breitenbach wrote. 

On behalf of the poultry industry, he presented a number of points to be actioned in the revised master plan. These were: 

  • The master plan is to support and action the removal of VAT from poultry meat. 
  • The escalation of the lack of vaccination against HPAI to the ministers of agriculture and the DTIC, whose predecessors signed the original masterplan. 
  • The actioning of exports to the EU, UK, UAE and Saudi Arabia.
  • The revision of all trade measures. 
  • The nonpayment for training by the Agri Seta. 

SAPA had asked for the tariff restructuring to prevent the under-declaration of chicken imports as well as the declaration of imported products under the wrong tariff heading. 

“The matter has been investigated by (SA trade regulator) ITAC, which submitted a report to former minister Ebrahim Patel. 

“Earlier this year, Minister Patel told us this issue was now a priority. We sincerely hope that Minister Tau sees this in the same serious light,” Breitenbach concluded.