Grave concerns over unintended collateral damage
4 January 2016. That is the
deadline for South Africa to
sort out its issues around the
importation of poultry from the
United States or be suspended
from the African Growth and
Opportunity Act
(Agoa).
Whilst
government
officials seem
to be less than
fazed by the
warning from
President
Barack Obama
issued on
November 5
this year giving
the country
exactly 60 days
to resolve all
outstanding
issues around
US poultry
imports, there is grave
concern around the impact of
suspension from Agoa for all
agricultural export products
especially in the Western Cape.
The province contributes
70% to the total agricultural
exports of South Africa.
Missing this trade opportunity
would have a damning impact
on the regional economy, said
Beverley Schäfer, Western Cape
spokesperson on economic
opportunities, tourism and
agriculture.
“I am not
convinced that
Minister Rob
Davies fully
understands
what the
unintended
impact of losing
this trade deal
will be for South
Africa. Much
like Minister
Malusi Gigaba
failed to see
the unintended
consequence
of the visa
regulations
on the South
African tourism industry,” she
said.
According to Schäfer the
province’s agriculture sector
relies heavily on the trade of
citrus fruit.
“South Africa exports citrus
fruits to the value of $700
million to the United States.
Should the Agoa deal fall
through, 85 000 jobs in the
citrus farming sector alone will
be at risk.”
Geordin Hill-Lewis, DA
shadow minister of trade
and industry, told FTW the
country’s reputation as a
reliable, trustworthy trading
partner was at stake.
“Most damaging is that this
threatens thousands of jobs on
farms across the country.”
He said Obama’s warning
was as a result of the out-ofcycle
review of South Africa
and was only applicable to
agricultural goods and not all
goods that fell under the Agoa
agreement.
“If we can resolve the
differences before then, there
is still a chance to overturn the
suspension and avoid disaster,”
he said. “We need to ensure
that we urgently resolve the
outstanding technical obstacles
that are preventing us from
honouring the commitments
we made to the USA earlier this
year. I hope this happens in the
next two or three weeks, but the
pace has been so slow
up until now that I am
not confident. The constant
delays and missing deadlines
are exactly why we are now in
this situation.”
Davies, however, last week
said South Africa’s negotiators
had been well aware of
this authority to suspend a
country’s trade benefits in
terms of the Agoa Extension
and Enhancement Act
where the US believed that a
beneficiary of Agoa was “not
making continual progress
toward the elimination of
barriers to United States trade
and investment”.
He said South Africa wished
to submit on record that it
had been making continual
progress during the past few
months to implement the
agreement reached in Paris in
June this year.
The main issues on the table
between the US and South
Africa are around the opening
of the SA market to US poultry,
beef and pork.
At the Paris meeting South
Africa agreed to open the South
African market to the US for
65 000
tons
of bone-in
chicken pieces
through a rebate facility.
The International Trade and
Administration Commission
issued a draft regulation in
this regard on October 30,
2015. The process of creating
this quota was envisaged to be
concluded well before the 31st
of December this year, the dti
said in a statement.
Davies maintains that
the issues at hand are about
animal health and are very
complex. “A balance has to be
found between trade opening
and animal health. In the
case of the poultry issue the
negotiation has been more
complex because the US is
seeking an agreement on the
health standards/regulations
that would apply if/when there
is another outbreak of Avian
Influenza in the United States.
The US requires South Africa
to keep the market open to US
poultry from those US States
that are not affected during
such an outbreak,” reads a
statement from his office.
INSERT & CAPTION
South Afrida has
made continual
progress over the
past few months
to implement the
agreement reached
in Paris in June this
year.
– Rob Davies
