Government has moved quickly to quell the fears of industry players affected by trade-related exports of poultry, beef and pork meat from the US to South Africa under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa).
Today (Thursday) the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Senzeni Zokwana, met with representatives of the Red Meat Industry Forum – including the Emerging Red Meat Producers’ Organisation, South African Pork Producers’ Organisation, South African Poultry Association (Sapa), African Farmers of South Africa, Agri-SA, and Association of Meat Importers and Exporters – to provide clarity on the agreements between the US and South Africa.
US President Barack Obama announced on Monday that South Africa’s agricultural benefits under Agoa would be suspended from March 15 if certain terms on key areas related to the importation of US meat were not met, despite the two countries reaching agreement on all outstanding issues last week.
Participants in the meeting with Zokwana agreed that meeting the March 15 deadline was important and the department committed to ensuring that they would again work tirelessly to make sure that the deadline was met
But one industry player was not moved by the US threat.
The CEO of South African Poultry Association, Kevin Lovell, said the US threat to suspend SA by March 15 is “simply a legal mechanism” to keep the pressure on South Africa and to extract more concessions if they so choose.
Lovell said agreeing in principle to the US’s 65 000 tonnes of dumped quota bone-in portions would have a negative effect on all local poultry meat producers, “small and big, black and white”.
