The Food and Allied Workers Union

The sector amid concerns that imminent floods of imports will rob local producers of market share due to intense disputes between key players in the poultry sector over the impact of recently suspended tariff hikes.

There is growing concern that more than 13,000 jobs will be lost in The Food and Allied Workers Union (Fawu) said at least 1,000 jobs were at risk in the Western Cape alone, but the national average put workers in the grain, animal feed processing and plantation industries at risk. Taking into account, that number could be: 1000 or 13,000+ jobs. Fau’s deputy secretary-general, Buka Chongko, said, “We hope to meet in the near future to discuss this issue, but for the record we have requested to meet with the minister to discuss the implications.”

Job losses as a result of dumping

Many jobs have been lost in the industry as a result of the dumping from 2012 to 2015, when imported chicken accounted for 30-35% of the market, he said. This led to street protests for locally produced chicken. “We won this battle because we had 25 percent foreign chicken and 75 percent domestic chicken,” he said.

The comment comes after Trade, Industry and Competition Secretary Ebrahim Patel announced earlier this month that the high tariff regime on chicken bones such as thighs, chicken wings and thighs would be suspended. According to his December ruling by the Bureau of International Trade Control, if tariffs were raised, Brazil would lose 265 percent, Ireland 158 percent, Denmark 67 percent, Poland 96 percent and Spain up to 85 percent. You end up consuming chicken bones.

Brazil is one of five countries to benefit from the minister’s generosity. European countries have had to deal with avian flu and halted exports. Eight Brazilian companies face a reduction in anti-dumping tariffs – from 8% to 35%. If Patel determines that food inflation has eased sufficiently, a tax rate of 265% will be applied to all other producers within one year.

Under the interim tariffs imposed by Itac, all Irish chicken with bones imported into South Africa between December 2021 and June 2022 was subject to an anti-dumping duty of 158.42%. Itac’s final recommendation was to range tariffs from 2.49% for one producer to 37.5% for all other producers.

Bird Flu subsides in EU

Trade Movement FairPlay said this week, “If bird flu in the EU subsides, exports could well resume before the 12-month suspension of anti-dumping tariffs ends next year. This means South African producers face a new flood of dumped chickens from the EU at unfair prices. ”

Donald Mackay, director of XA Trade Advisors, said that when it comes to factors such as high power prices, labor costs and lack of service provision, higher poultry tariffs appear to be easier triggers for local producers and Itac. All of these are affecting local poultry farmers. He said figures for importing chicken parts were exaggerated. “Why should we impose tariffs on a product that we cannot supply enough locally?”

South Africa is willing to pay a premium to import these cuts due to the high demand for these cuts,” he said. MacKay also clarified that Patel’s decision overruled Itac’s recommendation that there had been a case of dumping and that a local grower had been seriously injured. We examine 19 indicators that show whether: B. Sales prices are falling, local producers’ profits are declining, inventory levels, etc. Local industries are unharmed, prices are rising, and imports from 5 countries are rising. We found that imports did not erode the market, but due to lack of competitiveness exists” he said.

ChickenFacts is also an industry insider weighing tariffs on poultry imports, with imports accounting for 26% of poultry consumed domestically, but this figure includes all imports from all countries. and he said it contained three types of chicken. “Extracting the two types of poultry that we are forced to import, chicken wings and MDM (mechanical separated meat), if we look only at imports from five countries, the share is close to 13%. is steadily declining from a 2018 high of about 17%,” said ChickenFacts.

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Related article: Why countries should stop food protectionism according to Brazil.

Source: IOL