The SA Poultry Association (SAPA) has formally applied to South African authorities for the removal of an annual quota of chicken imported from the United States free of anti-dumping duties that would otherwise apply.
Because of bird flu outbreaks, the US has not been able to use the full quota for the past four years. Last year, the quota was just under 72 000 tonnes, and US imports totalled only 30 000 tonnes.
However, the quota remains a sore point for local poultry producers. It was forced on South Africa in 2016 as a condition for the country retaining other trade benefits in the US under its African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) legislation.
Now, producers argue, the new tariffs the Trump administration is putting on South African steel, cars, fruits and nuts mean that the US chicken quota should fall away.
SAPA’s Izaak Breitenbach told Food for Mzansi that the AGOA agreement specified that, should South Africa lose any of its AGOA benefits, the tariff-free chicken quota would expire automatically.
“The tariffs announced by the US thus nullify the anti-dumping free quota of 72,000 tonnes of imports of poultry meat to South Africa, in our understanding. The industry [has] written to both ITAC [International Trade Administration Commission] and DTIC [Department of Trade, Industry and Competition] to make them aware of the above and ask for the quota to be removed,” he said.
Local production had fully made up for the drop in imports, and averted any related price increases.
“The industry is still in the long run producing affordable chicken for the masses with prices at present on the low side. Still, the threat of a future rebound in US poultry imports looms large,” Breitenbach said.
