South African Government Responds to Industry Concerns Over Chicken Dumping
SOUTH AFRICA - South Africa's Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has highlighted its actions to impose tariffs on poultry imports as a response to continued concerns in the country over 'dumping' of poultry products.
12 December 2016
3 minute read
By: Recent data showed that imports of poultry from the US into South Africa were not as high as the local industry feared they would be, after the government gave the US a tariff-free quota to enable South Africa to hold onto its trading rights under the AGOA agreement.
However, the DTI said it has noted the concerns raised by the poultry industry in South Africa especially in relations to the increase in imports of poultry products.
The DTI highlighted that in 2013, the import duty on a number of poultry products was increased significantly, leaving current import duties for whole bird at 82 per cent and boneless cuts at 12 per cent. The import duties are not applicable to imports from the European Union (EU) since South Africa has a preferential trade agreement with the EU. However, in 2015 anti-dumping measures ranging from 3.86 per cent to 73.33 per cent were imposed on frozen bone-in chicken pieces from Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.
The DTI said the International Trade Administration Commission of South Africa has also initiated a safeguard investigation in regard to the surge of imports of frozen bone-in chicken pieces from the EU and this investigation is far advanced.
The DTI said it was also further continuously working on opening new markets for our poultry exports. Recently new markets in the Middle East have been opened and present a further opportunity for export to the domestic poultry industry in South Africa.
Furthermore, a national committee has been established by the DTI that includes the agriculture department and the industry that will consider all the challenges experienced by the domestic poultry industry and develop a comprehensive strategy to address these challenges in a holistic and sustainable manner.
A number of countries are currently experiencing Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza outbreaks and consequently, in line with the guidelines of the World Organisation for Animal Health, South Africa has placed a ban on imports of poultry from Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Israel, the Netherlands and Poland.
