SA poultry industry fears being ‘sacrificed’ in US talks

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Opens in new windowOpens in new windowOpens in new windowOpens in new windowEnter fullscreen mode displaying this image.ExpandThe poultry industry is worried that the government could make concessions on chicken imports to protect other sectors. Picture: Supplied South Africa’s poultry industry fears the government could sacrifice local chicken producers in its efforts to secure better trade terms with the US, particularly if it continues to allow duty-free American chicken imports while negotiating to protect other export industries.

Izaak Breitenbach, CEO of the SA Poultry Association’s (Sapa) Broiler Organisation, says the industry is concerned that poultry is part of the discussions with Washington but that producers are not being consulted on decisions that could affect their businesses.

The US is set to remove South Africa from the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) on January 1 2027, ending the country’s preferential access to the American market under the trade programme.

US trade representative Jamieson Greer announced the decision on November 2, saying South Africa had failed to meet Agoa’s eligibility criteria. South Africa was the programme’s largest beneficiary, exporting about $1.7bn worth of goods to the US under Agoa in 2025.

Trade, industry & competition minister Parks Tau said before the announcement that South Africa would have 60 days to appeal before any suspension took effect.

Breitenbach says the industry is worried that the government could make concessions on chicken imports to protect other sectors, including the automotive and citrus industries.

Izaak Breitenbach, CEO of the SA Poultry Association’s Broiler Organisation. Picture: Supplied Asked whether he was worried that local producers could be traded off, he said, “Absolutely, and more so because they do not consult with the poultry industry. When tariffs were implemented against our exports to the US minister [Parks] Tau agreed to retain the rebate without consulting the industry.”

A key concern is the 74,000-tonnes of US chicken that Sapa says can enter South Africa under a duty-free quota. The quota works through a rebate that exempts the US chicken from antidumping duties. The arrangement was part of the concessions South Africa made to remain eligible for Agoa benefits in 2016.

Sapa believes the quota should be scrapped now that South Africa is losing its Agoa benefits. However, according to Breitenbach, the department of trade, industry & competition (DTIC) retained the arrangement even after the US imposed a 12.5% tariff on South African exports.

Breitenbach said removing the rebate on the imported chicken would prevent the 74,000-tonnes from entering the country under the existing exemption from antidumping duties.

He argues that this would help local producers compete against imported chicken while continuing to supply affordable products to consumers.

At the time of publishing, the DTIC had not responded to questions on Breitenbach’s claim that the minister retained the rebate without consulting the industry, on whether the US chicken quota forms part of the trade talks, or on whether the government will remove it.

The local industry slaughters about 23-million birds a week and generated R74bn in turnover in 2025.

The dispute comes as the industry faces uncertainty over other trade protections. The International Trade Administration Commission (Itac) is considering whether to allow duties on European chicken imports to lapse. Itac opened a sunset review of the antidumping duties on frozen bone-in chicken from Germany, the Netherlands and the UK on August 14.

Breitenbach warns that losing those protections could return the industry to conditions before 2019, when local producers struggled to compete with imported chicken and businesses reduced their operations.

He said companies could again find themselves unable to generate enough money to reinvest in their operations, resulting in closures and job losses.

According to reports, the Association of Meat Importers and Exporters (Amie) previously urged Itac to let the duties expire. In its submission, Amie cited SA Reserve Bank research estimating that tariffs, antidumping duties and safeguard measures raised frozen chicken retail prices by 16.2% in 2012-21 above what they would otherwise have been.

Amie did not respond to questions for this article.

The industry is also raising concerns about the prices at which imported chicken enters South Africa. Sapa says monthly statistics from the SA Revenue Service (Sars) show some imported chicken entering at prices as low as half the cost of production.

Breitenbach said the association believes this is a widespread practice rather than isolated cases. He argued that Sars loses revenue and that local producers are forced to compete with dumped imports, which he describes as illegal trade under World Trade Organisation rules.

Despite its concerns about imports and trade negotiations, Sapa believes local producers remain among the world’s lowest-cost chicken producers.

Breitenbach said South Africa is currently the second-lowest-cost producer globally, after Brazil, and produces chicken more cheaply than countries in the EU and the US. Sapa has cited a Bureau for Food and Agricultural Policy report ranking South Africa second globally for cost-competitiveness, behind Brazil.

He says the industry intends to maintain affordable supplies for households, particularly as consumers face rising living costs.

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