THE imposition of provisional anti-dumping duties on chicken imports is hailed as a victory for the South African poultry industry, workers as well as small-scale black farmers.
These groups lament they are hardest hit by the effects of dumped and predatory imports.
FairPlay commended the International Trade Administration Commission (ITAC) and the South Africa Revenue Service (SARS) for deciding on these provisional duties.
“We hope they will be confirmed when we get the final decision next year,” said Francois Baird, founder of the FairPlay movement.
The duties have been slapped on imports from Brazil and four European Union countries – Denmark, Ireland, Poland and Spain.
The duties range from 6 percent to 265,1 percent for various poultry producers from Brazil, from 39 percent to 67,4 percent for Denmark, 158,42 percent for Ireland, 5 percent to 96,9 percent from Poland and 3 percent to 85,8 percent from Spain.
The provisional duties will remain in effect until 14 June 2022, by which time South Africa’s trade regulator is expected to have completed its investigation into an application by the South African poultry industry.
“This is an innovative and very welcome solution to the problem of extremely lengthy investigations into applications for anti-dumping duties,” Baird said.
FairPlay has repeatedly called for speedier action on anti-dumping applications.
“We are pleased with this decision. Moreover, this is another nail in the coffin for dumping and predatory trade denialists,” Baird said.