SA agrees to resume importation of US chicken

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"South Africa and United States agreed on a framework to restore market access into the South African market for US bone-in chicken cuts," said the DTI on Sunday.

This follows a two-day meeting held from 4 - 5 June 2015 in Paris, France. The meeting was facilitated by the United States and South African governments with their respective industry associations which resulted in a breakthrough after several months of industry-to-industry negotiations.

South Africa has for some time had in place, an anti-dumping duty on chicken portions coming from the US.

New agreement secures continued participation in AGOA

The DTI said the agreement between the two countries will secure the continued participation of South Africa in the reauthorised 2015 Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) that is being extended by the US congress for a further 10 years.

AGOA is a legislation that provides duty-free market access to the US for qualifying sub-Saharan African countries by extending preferences on more than 4,600 products.

In addition, the South African poultry industry was represented by the South African Poultry Association (SAPA) and the United States industry represented by the National Chicken Council and United States of America Poultry and Egg Export Council (USAPEEC).

The framework agreement follows enhanced engagement between the two parties towards resolution of concerns raised by the United States regarding South Africa's inclusion and continued participation in AGOA. It entails a rebate on the anti-dumping duty for a specified volume of US bone-in chicken cuts into the South African market.

"The South African government commits to facilitate the implementation of the framework agreed by the two industries after following due process," said the DTI.

Trade and Industry Minister, Rob Davies, who was in Paris to attend the informal WTO Ministerial meeting at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), met with the delegations and received feedback on the outcomes of the negotiations.

He commended the South African poultry industry for engaging positively in the negotiations in the interest of securing South Africa's continued participation in AGOA.

"This is a clear demonstration of what can be achieved with strong partnership between government and industry in finding solutions that benefit the South African economy," said the Minister.

Sanitary issues concerning agriculture trade

Furthermore, the South African and United States government officials discussed sanitary issues concerning agriculture trade. Progress has been achieved and technical work is on-going towards resolution of the issues.

The two governments agreed to use the Trade and Investment Framework Agreement which is a bilateral platform between the two countries as an important mechanism to resolve bilateral issues.

The two countries agreed to focus on enhancing trade and investment through identification of mutually beneficial issues and programmes of interest.

The South African delegation was led by the Special Envoy on AGOA, ambassador Faziel Ismail and included senior government officials from the Departments of Trade and Industry, and Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. The South African poultry industry was led by the SAPA CEO Kevin Lovell with participation by the South African poultry producers.

The US delegation was led by the US ambassador to South Africa, ambassador Patrick Gaspard with participation by senior government officials and the US poultry industry led by the Presidents of the National Chicken Council and the USA Poultry and Egg Export Council Mike Brown and Jim Sumner.