AMIE Opposes Extension of Chicken Import Duties as Trade Review Continues
AMIE Opposes Extension of Chicken Import Duties as Trade Review Continues. The Association of Meat Importers and Exporters (AMIE) has called for South Africa’s anti-dumping duties on frozen bone-in chicken imports from Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom to expire, arguing that their continued application requires fresh evidence.
The duties, first introduced in 2015/16 and extended in 2021, are under a sunset review following an application by the South African Poultry Association (Sapa) to extend the measures for another five years and substantially increase them.
AMIE’s submission argues that the review should consider the impact of trade protection on consumers, domestic producers and food affordability.
Chicken accounts for approximately 60% of meat consumed in South Africa. Research by the South African Reserve Bank, cited in AMIE’s submission, estimated that tariffs, anti-dumping duties and safeguard measures raised frozen chicken retail prices by 16.2% between 2012 and 2021 compared with the estimated prices without those measures.
Paul Matthew, AMIE’s chief executive, said South Africa needed a competitive domestic poultry industry alongside responsible imports to supplement local production, support food security and provide consumer choice.
The association has also challenged Sapa’s proposed dumping calculations, which indicate margins of 425.64% for Germany, 32.48% for the Netherlands and 61.84% for the UK.
AMIE argues that some calculations rely on data that does not fairly represent the products covered by the investigation. For Germany, its analysis found that 88% of the Ghanaian export volume used in the calculation fell under a tariff category excluded from the original investigation.
The submission further points to improved financial performance among domestic poultry producers, including Rainbow Chicken and Astral, as evidence that should inform the assessment of potential injury.
AMIE maintains that the review must establish whether allowing the duties to expire would probably result in renewed dumping and material injury to local producers.
