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US abusive in chicken talks, says Bheki Cele

Pretoria - The United States has been abusive in its negotiations with South Africa regarding the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) trade agreement and the "chicken issue", Deputy Agriculture Minister Bheki Cele has said.

Department officials had been in talks with America on the import duties on cheaper cuts of chicken, which the United States wanted lifted.

"[One of the officials] says in her life she has never absorbed so much insults and abuse in negotiations with Americans," Cele told News24.

"They are so abusive on this matter. Americans are abusive and think they know all."

Threatened

The two US senators Johnny Isakson and Chris Coons, who represent chicken-producing states in their country, have threatened to block South Africa from Agoa if Pretoria did not lift the import duties.

READ: US law aims to hold SA accountable in 'chicken war'

Earlier this month, Fin24 reported that Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies assured an audience in Washington that a settlement on the matter was on the horizon.

In the US white chicken meat (chicken breasts) is sold at a premium due to market demand. Brown meat, or bone-in chicken, is a surplus product which allows the US to enter the South African market with cheaper prices.

South Africa has imposed anti-dumping tariffs of above 100% since 2000 on certain products derived from the chicken carcass.

‘Replacing our market’

Cele said America wanted to supply South Africa with more chicken than the country produced.

"[This] means they are replacing our market. They are completely displacing our market. People have just calculated [and asked] where can there be bigger growth in agriculture?... It's poultry."

READ:

The deputy minister said he had visited a poultry abattoir in Delmas in Mpumalanga.

"It's such a good feeling, it's just a mass movement of people who work there," he said.

A bigger poultry abattoir that was meant to be opened in Limpopo would create even more jobs, but this project was under threat.

"If they [US] bring these chickens, we won't open that thing. These are market challenges."

Black spot

Cele said the country faced other market challenges, and as it is dealing with the US on Agoa, there was still the issue of black spot, a plant disease affecting citrus exports to Europe.

"We have not finished with black spot problems. That is a billion euro industry a year," he said adding that there were more politics behind the issue.

Cele said it was important to create alternative markets, such as the rest of Africa and Asia.

"The president signed a big market [agreement] for maize in China and they are also looking at beef and pork. If you have anything that costs a rand and every Chinese needs it, you can sell it once and become a billionaire.

“That's a big, big, big market. It's a market we need to nurse," he said.

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