The difficulties being experienced by the South African poultry industry should not undermine the mutually beneficial trade relationship the country has with the EU, a representative of the EU said on Tuesday. EU trade and economics counsellor in SA Dessislava Choumelova spoke during the continuing engagement organised by Parliament’s trade and industry committee on the challenges facing the poultry industry. Domestic producers blame the import of bone-in chicken portions from the EU for the crisis affecting the local industry, which has resulted in plant closures and retrenchments. However, these imports have declined dramatically over the last few months due to outbreaks of avian influenza in several EU countries. In December the South African Poultry Association successfully applied to the International Trade Administration Commission (Itac) for a safeguard duty which was set at 13.9%. Itac is now investigating whether to increase this duty further. Choumelova stressed that in th...
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