News
Sa ’ s poultry industry on the verge of collapse
�e poultry industry says it ' s on the verge of collapse as it battles with an in ux of cheap chicken imports being dumped by European Union countries and the United States .
Chicken producers , including Rainbow Chicken , are set to retrench more than 3,500 workers in one of the largest industry jobs bloodbaths as they struggle under heavy competition from cheap imported chickens from European Union countries . About 1,350 workers will be laid off by February . �e Department of Trade and Industry ( the dti ) has said that it has secured signi cant progress across a number of work-streams to develop a common response to the complex challenges facing the industry .
Authorities and other industry players will meet at a summit in the coming weeks - in a last-ditch bid to save the South African chicken industry . Government recently established a poultry sector task team to deal with the crisis in the domestic poultry industry . �e Task Team is comprised of representatives of the dti , the departments of economic development , agriculture , forestry and sheries , as well as the Industrial Development
Corporation .
Also represented is the sector industry association , Poultry South Africa , and representatives of the poultry producers , representing business . Labour is represented by the leadership of the Food and Allied Workers Union ( FAWU ). In 2013 , the import duty on a number of poultry products was increased signi cantly . �erefore , the current import duties for chicken imports from countries like Brazil and the United States are as follows : whole bird : 82 per cent , carcasses : 31 per cent , boneless cuts : 12 per cent , offal : 30 per cent , bone-in portions : 37 per cent .
�e above import duties are not applicable to imports from the European Union ( EU ) since South Africa has a preferential trade agreement with the EU . However , in 2015 antidumping measures ranging from 3.86 per cent to 73.33 per cent were imposed on frozen bone-in chicken pieces from Germany , the Netherlands and the United Kingdom . �e International Trade Administration Commission of South Africa has also initiated a safeguard investigation in regard to the surge
of imports of frozen bone-in chicken pieces from the EU and this investigation is far advanced . �e DTI said that it is working with DAFF on opening new markets for poultry exports . Recently new markets in the Middle East have been opened and present a further opportunity for export to the domestic poultry industry in South Africa . Furthermore , the dti is in the process of considering the designation of domestic poultry products for purposes of public procurement . �e work-streams established by government ' s task team to process a range of possible short and longer-term interventions include trade measures , health and quality issues , competitiveness , industry growth and transformation , among others . �e dti said the task team would submit a set of short-term and shared interventions for nal rati cation as soon as the necessary technical work has been completed for the short-term interventions . Meanwhile , government appealed to the industry to do everything possible to prevent any plant closures and retrenchments .
January - February 2017 [ 6 ]
FARMERS
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