In 2016 South Africa agreed to let American chicken in on special terms so it could stay inside the African Growth and Opportunity Act. In 2026 Washington is kicking South Africa out of Agoa anyway. The chicken deal, it seems, is still there.
That is the core complaint from the SA Poultry Association, as reported by Business Day this morning, and it deserves a straight answer from government.
What happened
US trade representative Jamieson Greer announced on 2 November that South Africa had failed to meet Agoa’s eligibility criteria, and the country will be removed on 1 January 2027. South Africa was the programme’s biggest beneficiary, exporting about $1.7bn of goods to the US under Agoa in 2025, according to Business Day.
Under the 2016 arrangement, Sapa says, 74,000 tonnes of US chicken can enter South Africa each year under a rebate that exempts it from antidumping duties. Izaak Breitenbach, CEO of Sapa’s Broiler Organisation, says the department of trade, industry and competition kept that rebate even after the US slapped a 12.5% tariff on South African exports, and did so without consulting the industry.
Asked whether he feared poultry being traded off to protect sectors like automotive and citrus in talks with Washington, he told Business Day: “Absolutely, and more so because they do not consult with the poultry industry.”
At the time Business Day published, the DTIC had not responded to questions on that claim, on whether the chicken quota is part of the US talks, or on whether it will be removed.
Why it matters beyond the farm gate
This is not a niche industry fight. The local industry slaughters about 23 million birds a week and turned over R74bn in 2025. Chicken is the cheapest protein on most South African plates. Any decision here lands in two places at once: jobs in rural processing plants, and the price of a family pack at the till.
There is a real counter-argument, and it should be heard. The Association of Meat Importers and Exporters has cited SA Reserve Bank research estimating that tariffs, antidumping duties and safeguard measures pushed frozen chicken retail prices 16.2% higher in 2012 to 2021 than they would otherwise have been. Cheaper imports help poor households. Protection helps workers. Government has to weigh both, in the open.
At the same time, the International Trade Administration Commission is running a sunset review, opened on 14 August, on antidumping duties for frozen bone-in chicken from Germany, the Netherlands and the UK. Sapa warns that losing those protections could take the industry back to conditions before 2019, when producers cut operations. It also claims SARS data shows some chicken entering at prices as low as half the cost of production.
The accountability question
Trade concessions are normal. Secret trade concessions are not. If poultry is a bargaining chip in the US talks, South Africans, including the people whose jobs depend on it, should know what is being offered and what is being bought with it.
Three questions for Minister Parks Tau:
- Is the 74,000-tonne US chicken rebate on the table in current talks with Washington?
- If Agoa membership is ending, what is South Africa still getting in return for keeping the rebate?
- Was the poultry industry consulted before the rebate was retained, as Sapa says it was not?
Silence from the DTIC is not a trade strategy. With seven weeks until Agoa access ends, it is time for answers.
Qwezzy for Holleration