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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