winging it

South Africa: Poultry industry seeks more anti-dumping protections

By Xolisa Phillip

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Posted on May 20, 2022 08:27

 © Workers, former workers and company managers from the South African poultry sector, protest outside the European Union headquarters in Pretoria, South Africa, Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2017 (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)/
Workers, former workers and company managers from the South African poultry sector, protest outside the European Union headquarters in Pretoria, South Africa, Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2017 (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)/

Astral Foods, South Africa’s largest integrated poultry producer, recorded double-digit revenue growth of R9.4bn ($585m) in the six months to 31 March 2022 driven by high broiler sales volumes, according to the company.

However, the South African poultry industry has a bone to pick with cheap chicken imports from Brazil, the US, and some EU countries – Denmark, Ireland, Poland and Spain – that it says threaten the viability of the key domestic agricultural sub-sector.

The South African Poultry Association (SAPA) successfully petitioned the country’s International Trade Administration Commission (ITAC) to impose provisional anti-dumping duties on chicken imports from Brazil, the US, and the EU.

In December 2021, ITAC introduced provisional anti-dumping duties of up to 30% on the affected countries and chicken producers effective from January 2022 to June 2022. Further anti-dumping measures will be readdressed in June.

In South Africa’s Poultry Industry Master Plan of 2019, a 15% reduction in imports is envisaged using various instruments, including anti-dumping duties.

However, as Frans Van Heerden, the

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