Photo by: Bloomberg
US President Barack Obama this week officially revoked any potential limitations imposed on South Africa under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) as the African nation “came into compliance” after lengthy negotiations that threatened South Africa’s duty-free trade benefits with the Western powerhouse.
This followed the Department of Trade and Industry’s confirmation of the first shipment of 16 t of frozen chicken legs arriving at the Port of Durban on February 26, with the US poultry set to be available on retail shelves ahead of the March 15 deadline set by Obama in January.
“Based on actions that the government of South Africa has taken to come into compliance with the requirements, I have determined that suspending the application of duty-free treatment to certain goods is no longer necessary to promote compliance by South Africa with such requirements,” Obama said in a March 14 Presidential Proclamation.
South Africa and the US agreed to a quota arrangement, whereby South Africa would accept 65 000 t/y of bone-in chicken from the US and these imports would not be subject to antidumping duties that had been applied to US poultry since 2000.
In January, a 60-day deadline for the actual arrival of US chicken into the South African market was set, with an indication that failure to meet the timeframe would result in South Africa losing some of its duty-free Agoa benefits for specified farm products.