Poultry deal with US will assure SA access

Johannesburg - An agreement with the US to allow chicken exports to South Africa will ensure that products maintain preferential access to the world’s biggest economy through the African Growth and Opportunity Act, Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies said.

“This will now consolidate and solidify South Africa’s participation in AGOA,” Davies said in an interview on Johannesburg-based SAfm radio. “It’s not fundamentally about chicken, it’s fundamentally about the renewal of the AGOA.”

While anti-dumping duties on certain US chicken cuts remain in place, the two countries reached an agreement last week that will allow an initial quota of 65 000 metric tons of bone-in imports annually. This will be reviewed based on consumption and production growth, Davies said.

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The two countries have been at loggerheads on whether South Africa should lift the anti-dumping duties imposed on chicken imported from the US Africa’s most-industrialised economy risked losing out on preferential access to the US through AGOA, a trade accord that expires in September, if an agreement wasn’t reached.

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“We look forward to continue to participate in AGOA,” Davies said.

“It’s of benefit to a number of other industries” including carmakers, agro-processers, wine and citrus producers.

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