South Africa has two months to show it is implementing last week’s 11th-hour agreement to open its market to US poultry and other meats or it will again face loss of trade preferences under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa).
US President Barack Obama on Monday suspended the application of duty-free treatment for all Agoa-eligible goods in the agricultural sector from South Africa, effective March 15.
Obama had been set to pull the trigger on the benefits last Tuesday‚ but gave South Africa further grace.
If US poultry is allowed into South Africa on or before March 15‚ Obama will be in a position to revoke yesterday’s proclamation before it takes effect‚ US officials said. They emphasised this did not represent any shifting of goalposts following the January 6 agreement announcement.
“With the substantive points resolved‚ we are able to move to the final benchmark‚ testing the new system to make certain that American poultry can be made available on store shelves in South Africa‚” US trade office spokesman Trevor Kincaid said.
“We have extended the effective date of any Agoa action to allow sufficient time for our products to enter South Africa‚ and are making sure, with stakeholders in both countries, that this happens quickly so South Africa’s Agoa benefits can continue uninterrupted.”
The system agreed by the two sides includes a procedure for rebating antidumping duties on an annual quota of 65000 tons of frozen chicken portions from the US plus mutually acceptable protocols to ensure the safety of South African consumers and livestock.
At the behest of Congress and industry lobbyists‚ Obama in November gave South Africa until January 4 to remove remaining barriers to US chicken‚ beef and pork‚ barriers the US judged to be unwarranted and not in line with World Trade Organisation rules.
The availability of US poultry in South African shops by the end of last year – after an absence of 15 years – was agreed as the key benchmark SA had to meet to avoid Washington reimposing duties on South African citrus‚ wine‚ macadamia nuts and other edibles.
The deadline passed as the two sides deadlocked over salmonella inspections and country of origin requirements for US beef. Those and other differences were bridged in urgent talks last week.
Asked how long it would take for shipments of US chicken to start reaching South Africa‚ US National Chicken Council president Mike Brown said it was “just a matter of the South African government issuing import certificates for South African importers and the US government’s food safety and inspection service issuing paperwork to US exporters”.
“I hazard a guess we could be in the country within … 30 or so days.”
US officials could not say what would happen if the plunging rand priced US chicken out of the SA market.
It was also unclear whether ongoing uncertainty about the duty-free status of South African products would affect orders from US importers‚ especially of South African citrus‚ which faces stiff duty-free competition from South America. Agoa is not a trade agreement but a unilateral grant of preferential access to the US market subject to conditions set by Congress and administered by the US Trade Representative’s office. — BDlive
Clock ticks on US meat agreement
US President Barack Obama on Monday suspended the application of duty-free treatment for all Agoa-eligible goods in the agricultural sector from South Africa, effective March 15.
Obama had been set to pull the trigger on the benefits last Tuesday‚ but gave South Africa further grace.
If US poultry is allowed into South Africa on or before March 15‚ Obama will be in a position to revoke yesterday’s proclamation before it takes effect‚ US officials said. They emphasised this did not represent any shifting of goalposts following the January 6 agreement announcement.
“With the substantive points resolved‚ we are able to move to the final benchmark‚ testing the new system to make certain that American poultry can be made available on store shelves in South Africa‚” US trade office spokesman Trevor Kincaid said.
“We have extended the effective date of any Agoa action to allow sufficient time for our products to enter South Africa‚ and are making sure, with stakeholders in both countries, that this happens quickly so South Africa’s Agoa benefits can continue uninterrupted.”
The system agreed by the two sides includes a procedure for rebating antidumping duties on an annual quota of 65000 tons of frozen chicken portions from the US plus mutually acceptable protocols to ensure the safety of South African consumers and livestock.
At the behest of Congress and industry lobbyists‚ Obama in November gave South Africa until January 4 to remove remaining barriers to US chicken‚ beef and pork‚ barriers the US judged to be unwarranted and not in line with World Trade Organisation rules.
The availability of US poultry in South African shops by the end of last year – after an absence of 15 years – was agreed as the key benchmark SA had to meet to avoid Washington reimposing duties on South African citrus‚ wine‚ macadamia nuts and other edibles.
The deadline passed as the two sides deadlocked over salmonella inspections and country of origin requirements for US beef. Those and other differences were bridged in urgent talks last week.
Asked how long it would take for shipments of US chicken to start reaching South Africa‚ US National Chicken Council president Mike Brown said it was “just a matter of the South African government issuing import certificates for South African importers and the US government’s food safety and inspection service issuing paperwork to US exporters”.
“I hazard a guess we could be in the country within … 30 or so days.”
US officials could not say what would happen if the plunging rand priced US chicken out of the SA market.
It was also unclear whether ongoing uncertainty about the duty-free status of South African products would affect orders from US importers‚ especially of South African citrus‚ which faces stiff duty-free competition from South America. Agoa is not a trade agreement but a unilateral grant of preferential access to the US market subject to conditions set by Congress and administered by the US Trade Representative’s office. — BDlive
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