Duties set to expire at the end of the week.
With dumping duties on frozen bone-in poultry from Germany, the Netherlands and the UK set to expire on Saturday (August 22), the International Trade Administration Commission (Itac) initiated a sunset review of the tariffs to determine whether they should be modified or extended.
An application for their renewal was made by the South African Poultry Association (Sapa) on behalf of the poultry industry within the Southern African Customs Union.
Since August 2021, South Africa’s anti-dumping duties on frozen bone-in chicken have ranged between 31.3% and 73.33% for Germany, 3.86% and 22.81% for the Netherlands, and 12.07% and 30.99% for the UK, with rates differing per exporting firm.
In a Friday (14 August) government gazette announcing the review, Sapa alleges that the expiry of the duties would likely lead to the continuation and recurrence of dumping, and to “material injury” to the local poultry industry.
Itac concluded that Sapa had submitted sufficient evidence to establish that a review should take place.
Information has been provided by various brands belonging to the country’s largest chicken producers – Astral Foods, Rainbow Chicken, and the unlisted Country Bird Holdings and Sovereign Foods.
‘Dumping’ vs supplying
More than 80% of South Africa’s chicken imports originate from Brazil, according to anti-dumping advocacy body FairPlay.
However, the review of the European tariffs highlights the tension between protecting the local poultry industry and jobs, versus ensuring cheaper protein for millions of low-income consumers.
To support its case, Sapa compared the average price at which poultry is sold in each exporting country with the price at which it would be sold in South Africa during 2025.
Using export prices to Ghana as a proxy, it found that Germany sold chicken at prices that were 425.64% higher in its domestic market, though no imports from Germany to South Africa were recorded in 2025.
The Netherlands sold its chicken at prices 32.48% higher in its home market, while estimated average UK prices were 61.84% higher than in South Africa
The local poultry industry has previously stressed that it is not opposed to imports, but to dumping.
In its interim results to end-March, Astral, the country’s largest chicken producer, reported high profits, with headline earnings up by 467%, though poultry profits tend to be cyclical.
FairPlay founder Francois Baird said while the large chicken producers have made good profits recently, in recent years they “lost R9 billion due to bird flu and spent enormous sums generating their own electricity during load shedding, coping with water scarcity, and dealing with expensive transport due to infrastructure problems”
He said poultry producers abroad sell white meat in their own markets, and are left with a surplus of brown meat and bone-in cuts, which they sell far more cheaply elsewhere.
This dumped chicken then destroys the local industry, first impacting smaller-scale producers, said Baird, adding that the poultry industry is the largest agricultural player in South Africa.
Consumer focus
FairPlay argues that consumers don’t benefit from low-priced dumped chicken, saying importers make a high profit and do not “pass the true benefit on”.
But “to support consumers’ access to affordable protein, FairPlay has been asking for VAT on those chicken pieces consumed by poor people to be lifted as an immediate way to help poverty-stricken households”.
“FairPlay is in favour of free trade within World Trade Organisation rules. These rules allow for tariffs and for anti-dumping levies,”
Baird said.
Itac has invited comments from other affected parties on the review.
Paul Matthew, CEO of the Association of Meat Importers and Exporters of South Africa (Amie SA), which has previously criticised the dumping tariffs, says the association “has requested the full application from Itac and is assessing the review”.
“Given the negligible 2025 trade volumes, only a very limited number of parties may be able to respond,”
he added.
In July, South Africa hiked the peanut butter tariff on imports mainly from India from a nominal flat fee to 20% of the product’s value, after RCL Foods made an application for a 25% tariff.
Source: Moneyweb
