On the back of what could be a protracted battle with the US over poultry imports, South Africa’s poultry industry now has the European Union (EU) on its radar.
This after the Department of Trade and Industry (dti) recently gazetted a four-year agricultural safeguard that will see tariffs increase significantly on bone-in chicken imports from the EU, starting with a 35.3% increase applicable in the first six months. Thereafter, tariffs will increase by 30% in the second year, 25% in the third year and 15% in the fourth.
While the South African Poultry Association (Sapa) has applauded the move, it’s attracted strong criticism from the Association of Meat Importers and Exporters of South Africa (Amiesa) and the EU. “We believe that this safeguard will simply make essential protein food more expensive for the poorer segments of our population and all this in the middle of a recession,” said Amiesa CEO, David Wolpert. “It also comes at a time when local poultry is simply coining it and rolling in massive profits.”
He told FTW that not only was Amiesa opposed to the safeguard but the organisation believed that its implementation was unlawful and in breach of the Southern African Development Community-EU Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA). “The dti’s reasoning for the safeguard is that there is a surge in imports from the EU which is affecting the local poultry industry,” said Wolpert. “But this was years ago and has since petered out to a significant degree.”
“The quantity of poultry imported to South Africa from the EU has drastically decreased since December 2016 and has been replaced by imports from third country producers and, notably, not by domestic production,” said head of trade and economics at the EU delegation to South Africa, Massimo de Luca. De Luca noted that “false” allegations had been made against EU poultry imports claiming that they were undermining local producers due to the enormous quantities of “dumped” poultry largely benefiting from subsidies which resulted in job losses in South Africa.
However, he pointed out that the EU did not subsidise poultry production or exports and said there was no dumping as EU poultry imports were not cheaper than those of competitors such as the US and Brazil. “We keep dialogue open but of course we are very critical of the safeguard,” he said. “Notably, as after two years of Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) bans no new jobs have been created, poultry prices have increased and imports from the EU have been replaced by imports from Brazil and the US.”
The local poultry industry however remains firmly and strongly supportive of the dti’s decision to implement the safeguard, with Sapa stating that action by government to protect the local industry was still much needed. “Portion dumping by the EU only declined because of bird flu in the EU,” said Sapa broiler board chairperson, Marthinus Stander. “If not for that, and should the ban be lifted, dumping will continue at record levels since the EPA agreement provides the EU with unlimited tariff-free access to our markets, and because EU consumers do not prefer dark meat leg quarters, they sit with ‘spare parts’.”
Commenting on the switch in sourcing from the EU to the US and Brazil, Stander acknowledged that more measures would be required to stem the influx of portions from third countries as well. Wolpert added that Amiesa’s legal team was currently studying the safeguard and was considering taking the dti to court but had not made any concrete decisions as yet.
False allegations have been made against EU poultry imports. – Massimo De Luca
