Chicken wing dumping has top MP in a flap
February 18, 2008
By Donwald Pressly
Cape Town - The poultry and paper and packaging industries have enlisted the help of a senior ANC MP to fight the department of trade and industry's proposed reduction or scrapping of anti-dumping duties against the import of these products.
The department called for comments to be submitted by the end of last month, extended to last Thursday, but Ben Turok, a left-wing ANC MP, hopes to use the platform of parliament to win extra time and oppose the proposals.
The producers say the easing or removal of such duties would lead to the loss of billions of rands for the local market and cost the economy thousands of jobs. The International Trade Administration Commission (Itac), which falls under the trade and industry department, made the proposal in December.
Turok said he had proposed, with the support of Democratic Alliance MP Les Labuschagne, that the proposals be debated by the national assembly trade and industry committee. Committee chairman and ANC MP Ben Martins had agreed, and they would be put on the committee's schedule this week.
Turok said there was an obsession with liberalising the economy in South Africa, even though its competitors were not necessarily coming to the party. The US had banned South African imports of chicken wings and legs, but was supporting chicken breast imports. "I joke that America likes our breasts," he said, but argued that the US intended to dump wings and legs on the South African market.
Itac said the protections routinely included a five-year period of competition grace, articulated through protective duties. This period had expired. The department has argued that its proposals to scrap or ease anti-dumping duties were in line with global trade practice.
Kevin Lovell, the chief executive of the SA Poultry Association, said the turnover of chicken meat portions in South Africa was just short of R4 billion in 2006. The end of duties would mean losses "in excess of R1 billion", with a "good few thousand jobs" being lost.
The removal of duties is also proposed for uncoated wood-free paper, blankets, bolts and nuts of iron or steel, float and flat glass, garlic, garden picks, paper-insulated lead-covered electric cables, door locks and door handles.
John Hunt, the executive director of the Paper Manufacturers' Association of SA, said that ultimately all the tariffs on paper products "will reach zero as provided for in a South African-EU trade agreement". His organisation had instituted legal administrative review proceedings against Itac. It had not anticipated that Itac would decide to "simply align tariffs with EU tariffs on paper products".
|
|
