The Association of Meat Importers and Exporters rudely declined our invitation to participate in this month’s webinar on boosting chicken exports.
Yet they listened to the webinar discussion, and subsequently offered comment in their mouthpiece, Chickenfacts. Those comments could have been raised and discussed in the webinar. AMIE, a signatory to the poultry master plan and its export ambitions, ducked the debate.
One of their perennial arguments is that anti-dumping duties are protectionist. As FairPlay explains regularly, they are nothing of the sort. Anti-dumping duties are part of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules to ensure fair trade.
When a country sells its chicken for less – sometimes far less – than the cost of producing them, that is not fair trade, it is predatory trade. The WTO recognises this as dumping, and authorises anti-dumping duties to restore fair competition.
Importers, of course, oppose curbs on imports, as that would reduce their income.
On the export side, AMIE has criticism of its own. They clearly share the concerns FairPlay has raised about investment in state veterinary staff and facilities to provide health certificates, and diplomatic energy to get government-to-government agreements on market access.
As a master plan signatory and representative of meat exporters, AMIE should be working to overcome these obstacles.
AMIE also declines to say what it is doing, or plans to do, to facilitate the chicken exports from which its member companies would benefit. Is it going to use its exporting experience and market knowledge to boost those chicken export volumes?
Tell us, AMIE. Take part in the game instead of shouting from the sidelines.
