The South African Poultry Association (Sapa) is pushing ahead with its court battle against the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (DTIC) after Minister Parks Tau did not end a 72 000-tonne annual poultry tariff rate quota granted to the United States.
The quota agreement permits the US to export bone-in chicken to South Africa without anti-dumping duties.
Sapa, which represents more than 230 big and small farmers, has argued that local producers cannot compete with “dumped” chicken from the US, and that Tau should have scrapped the quota deal when US President Donald Trump applied his 30% reciprocal tariffs, later cut to 15%, last year.
The DTIC and Tau have been cited as respondents in the matter, which has been filed in the Gauteng High Court (Johannesburg). The government is opposing the matter.
Tau’s spokesperson, Kaamil Alli, said the government was opposing the matter.
“The AGOA extension has rendered the point raised by the association moot. We are in consultation with the US and are working on a resolution of this particular point,” Alli said.
Izaak Breitenbach, general manager of Sapa’s Broiler Organisation, told Freight News that in terms of the African Growth Opportunity Act (AGOA) agreement signed in 2015, there was a clause that stated, should South Africa lose any of its benefits in terms of tariff-free exports to the US, the rebate would lapse. Poultry producers lost this benefit with the imposition of the reciprocal tariff.
Sapa argues that the reciprocal tariff removed the benefit on which the quota arrangement was based.
“Minister Tau, without consulting with the industry, in negotiations with the US has agreed to keep the rebate in place,” Breitenbach said.
“This is unlawful in terms of the 2015 Agoa agreement and detrimental to the South African poultry industry. We have tried to discuss the matter with Minister Tau but we were not allowed the opportunity to date. The only avenue left for us was to go to court in the matter in January this year.”
Breitenbach said the purpose of the application was to obtain a court order to force the Minister to remove the tariff rebate that allowed for 72 000 tonnes of poultry meat to enter South Africa free of the anti-dumping duty.
“The International Trade Administration Commission in awarding this duty [caused] material harm to the industry that we would like to stop. This also inhibits our ability to supply reasonably priced chicken meat to our consumers.”
Breitenbach said Tau had not yet submitted papers to court but it was believed he would ask for an extension before the July 7 court date.
“The industry in two years has not had the opportunity to talk to Minister Tau and it has asked again for such a meeting, and more so before Minister Tau gives input in terms of the modernisation of the Agoa agreement,” he said.
The legal challenge was filed in January, just before the US in February extended the Agoa agreement to December 31, 2026, ahead of its plans to “reform and modernise” a new 2027 Agoa renewal.
According to Chicken Facts, the US underutilises the quota. In 2023, only 28 131 tonnes were shipped, which declined to 5 956 tonnes in 2024, before rising to 12 251 tonnes, or 17% of the quota, in 2025. It notes that if the US poultry quota were being fulfilled, the 72 000-tonne allocation would represent less than 4% of local production and 3% of domestic consumption, based on the latest available 2024 production and consumption data.
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