SA poultry war of words amid Agoa exclusion threat
THE ASSOCIATION of Meat Importers and Exporters in South Africa (AMIE) has accused the local poultry industry of holding the country to ransom by pushing for the maintenance of tariffs on US poultry imports.
The war of words between the two bodies comes as South Africa tries to fight a threatened exclusion by US lawmakers from the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa), which is up for renewal from September.
AMIE chief executive David Wolpert warned yesterday that the South African meat industry could not afford to lose out on Agoa.
“As South Africa faces potential exclusion from Agoa renewal, it is nothing more than manipulative obfuscation to debate whether or not the US poultry industry should or should not have taken measures in the past 15 years to pro- tect their legitimate export interests,” Wolpert said.
“And besides, South African consumers’ access to affordable, quality protein should not be jeopardised by the self-interested protectionism of our local poultry magnates.”
The 15-year old Agoa is up for renewal by Congress in September, but doubts about South Africa’s participation have emerged after two powerful US senators pushed for the country to lower tariffs on US chicken imports or risk losing Agoa benefits.
Warning
In January, the National Chicken Council and the USA Poultry and Egg Export Council warned South Africa to lift dumping duties from US poultry products and allow trade to resume “fairly and without restraint”.
Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies met US Trade Representative Michael Froman on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos in January to resolve the poultry dispute and ensure South Africa’s continued participation in Agoa.
Davies recently told the Brand SA/Business Report Dialogue that he was optimistic that South Africa would retain its participation in Agoa.
Wolpert said ensuring that the Agoa renewal talks were successful was crucial to ad-- vancing national interests.
“Thousands of local jobs are at stake due to the narrow interests of one player in the industry,” said Wolpert.
But reports have since emerged that an improved offer by the poultry industry to allow more US chicken imports into South Africa collapsed last week.
Salvage attempts
The industry allegedly raised by 50 percent the annual tonnage of allowable imported chicken from the US that it would accept free of anti-dumping duties.
Kevin Lovell, the chief executive of the SA Poultry Association, was not available for comment yesterday.
Last week, Lovell said South Africa was doing all it could to salvage its continued participation in Agoa.
“This is a unilateral trade agreement by the US. It, therefore, requires a political decision as a trade one to renew it,” he added.