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After US President Barack Obama threatened South Africa’s suspension of trade benefits under the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa), the main concern from the Department of Trade and Industry (dti) has remained that US meat exports may contain the bacterial disease salmonella. The department nevertheless signed an agreement with the US last week to resume imports of 65 000 tonnes of its chickens annually, but dti Minister Rob Davies said the department had formulated a proposal on the issue of salmonella and was awaiting a response...

Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies is confident the government will seal the deal with the US on the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) and the trade benefits squabble well ahead of the US’s 60-day deadline to fix any disagreements. He told journalists in Parliament yesterday that they were close to clinching the deal. The discussions between the two countries on AGOA continued yesterday after Davies had sent a statement on Monday that vets from both countries had signed an agreement on Friday on the health protocol. The...

South Africa has signed an agreement with the United States to resume import of 65,000 tonnes of chicken each year, which had become bogged down over health concerns, the government said on Tuesday. The veterinary trade protocol comes after the U.S. threatened to suspend trade benefits for South African farm products earlier this month, in retaliation against the clamp down on poultry imports. South Africa has been concerned that an outbreak of avian flu in the United States which killed nearly 50 million birds could pose animal and human...

The resilience of South Africa’s poultry industry will be tested to the limit in the year ahead, according to Chris Schutte, the chief executive at Astral Foods, which saw its profits reach a record high in the year to September. Schutte said yesterday that he saw the effects of the drought, the looming brining regulations and the implementation of the US annual poultry import quota as the industry’s major problems. “The strong El Niño effect and its impact on planting conditions will negatively impact on crop yields, leading to...

South African and US veterinary authorities have signed a health protocol agreement allowing for the import of US bone-in-chicken portions, overcoming one of the major obstacles to the continued access of SA’s agricultural products into the US market under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa). The protocol signed on Friday deals with sensitive issues such as how to allow US chicken exports to SA in the event of avian flu outbreaks in some US states without this harming South African flocks. This has been a major obstacle in...

I was enjoying one of those convivial academic evenings. A nice, cold Cape chenin blanc, a plateful of chicken and conversations about whether statues should be removed from campus and the challenges of student fees and loans. The catering staff circulating silently through the throng were almost all black and the academics mainly white, apart from the statutory foreign guests. But this was not just another of the post-lecture receptions you might stumble across at Wits, the Univerity of Johannesburg, the University of Cape Town or...

When it comes to US poultry, President Obama is picking the wrong fight – he should be working to improve the sector, not export our pathology. The US and South Africa have been engaged in a slow-burn chicken war for years.  US exporters have been frustrated by restrictions that South Africa has put on US poultry.  It was a significant issue in negotiations around the renewal of the African trade preferences bill – the African Growth and Opportunities Act (AGOA) – in the US Congress, with some “chicken-hawks”...

Kenya is projecting that export of goods from its export zones will reach 600 million U.S. dollars in 2015, officials said on Wednesday. Export Processing Zones Authority (EPZA) Chief Executive Officer Fanuel Kidenda told a business forum in Nairobi that exports in 2014 stood at less than 500 million dollars. “The renewal of the preferential trade deal with the U.S. for another ten years is expected to lift the sales volumes from the export zones,” Kidenda said during the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) forum. Under law, the...

President Jacob Zuma has come in for some sharp criticism for his statement that he serves the ANC first and foremost, over and above the country. The criticism is justified; his oath of office legally binds him to serve the country first and only. Notionally, the constitution is blind to political affiliation, though of course we all know politics is where all the important choices are made. Actually, Zuma’s categorisation is not just a personal view; it’s common in the ANC. You can see examples everywhere, not least in Zuma’s...

He said the country had committed to cutting barriers to U.S. goods under AGOA, but had not followed through. US President Barack Obama has given South Africa 60 days to show it is meeting the requirements of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) before he imposes normal tariffs on South African agricultural products. "Although South Africa has to date failed to meet critical benchmarks required to address these issues, it continues to express an interest in resolving US concerns", Obama said. AGOA, renewed by USA lawmakers in...

The Obama administration is not "bullying" SA by threatening to suspend duty-free treatment of its farm products unless a 15-year-old dispute over chicken wings and legs was resolved by January 4, Laird Treiber, economic counsellor at the US embassy in Pretoria, said on Tuesday. In a teleconference, Mr Treiber sounded confident that the dispute over access to the South African market for US poultry, beef and pork would be resolved ahead of the deadline and that the first shipment of US chicken parts would arrive in SA by the end of the...

The WTO's Goods Council approved on 10 November a request from the United States for the extension of a waiver regarding the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), a preferential trade programme granting special access to the US market for goods imported from 39 beneficiary countries in sub-Saharan Africa. The US enacted legislation in June 2015 extending the AGOA programme for 10 years, or until 30 September 2025. The waiver will run until the expiry of the programme. The US told the Goods Council that imports of goods under AGOA...

Kenyan small businesses have been challenged to exploit market access opportunities available under the recently renewed African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) 2015 to increase Kenya’s export volumes in the USA market. Kenya has exported less than 10 of the 6,300 products allowed into the US market under the preferential status for the last decade, a situation the government is keen to turn around. Closing an MSME’s forum aimed at educating the sector on trading under the AGOA market, Cabinet Secretary, Industrialization and...

Even though Kenya is the leading exporter to the United States under the African Growth Opportunity Act, AGOA, accounting for 59 percent of exports, most SMEs are not fully utilizing the preferential trade deal due to limited access to information. Industrialization Principal Secretary Dr. Wilson Songa says capacity building will see Kenya boost the number of products currently being exported to the US as the ministry works to establish the Micro and Small Enterprise Authority as an independent body to aid SMEs. Data from the US government...

South Africa was eventually included in the newest version of AGOA – the African Growth and Opportunity Act – but with an important proviso. This was the requirement that there was progress in sorting out access to South African markets by American poultry, pork and beef exporters. But the negotiations on these questions seem to have come to a stumbling block and the US invoked a provision of AGOA to restrict South African exports of agricultural products to the US in two months unless things are sorted out. J. Brooks Spector takes a...

Many South Africans are in a huff. Last week, US President Barack Obama sent a terse, firm letter to the US Congress, informing it that his administration was putting SA on 60-day notice before it withdrew the right to duty-free exports of agricultural products. SA refuses to import certain categories of US meat, especially chicken, over concerns that it is "disease-affected". The Americans argue that the ban should be limited to affected areas, not the entire country. The South Africans disagree, so we have a stalemate. It is a bit more...

Foot-dragging by South African government officials and complex technical disputes combined with powerful US industry lobbies pushing their advantage to the limit have brought SA to the edge of a trade cliff. The country stands to lose the duty-free access its agricultural products enjoy in the US market under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) in less than 60 days if the outstanding issues preventing the import of US poultry, pork and beef are not resolved. Last Thursday, US President Barack Obama wrote to the US Congress,...

The deal to readmit US chicken pieces into South Africa has been designed to also create a new group of black chicken traders. Without them, half of the quota squeezed out of the local industry as a concession to American poultry groups will be unusable. Established local importers, however, believe it will inevitably have this result for US chicken farmers because the benefit of privileged access to US chicken for black businesspeople is not enough to overcome the barriers of entry into the business. The deal to allow 65 000 tons of US...

The Ministry of Industrialisation and Enterprise Development will host Kenya’s micro, small and medium-sized enterprise players to build their capacity to leverage on African Growth and Opportunity Act(AGOA) renewal through exports to US markets. The forum to be held on Monday  is an opportunity for the Ministry to educate micro, small and medium-sized businesses on the detailed regulations and benefits provided by the AGOA renewal Act of 2015 and how to leverage on the opportunity to build their capacity for exporting products to...

The South African government is confident that it would be able to resolve all outstanding issues and avoid the suspension on its duty-free farm trade status with the US, the Department of Trade and Industry said on Friday. This was in reaction to the news that, in a letter dated November 5 2015, US President Barack Obama warned South Africa that, if the negotiations regarding certain outstanding issues relating to poultry imports were not resolved by December 31, the US would suspend SA’s duty-free treatment of its agricultural goods...

South Africa is embarrassing US President Barack Obama, who has been advocating for the country’s continued inclusion in the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) preferential trade agreement, by not complying with the agreements it has committed to, says Nils Flaatten, director of Blue Viking Advisory Services. In his previous capacity as CEO of Wegro, the Western Cape Destination Marketing, Investment and Trade Promotion Agency, Flaatten was closely involved with trade relations between South Africa and the US. Flaatten says...

Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies said he had been given the assurance by US trade representative Michael Froman on Thursday that the threatened suspension of SA from the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) benefits would be lifted as soon as there was agreement on the outstanding issues. Mr Froman phoned Mr Davies on Thursday ahead of US President Barack Obama’s letter to Congress warning of a possible suspension. Mr Davies said at an urgently convened press conference on Friday that South African and American veterinarians...

The United States moved to suspend trade benefits for South African farm products on Thursday, escalating a drawn-out dispute over US chicken and meat exports. US President Barack Obama said he planned to revoke duty-free status for South African agricultural goods in 60 days under a programme set up to help African exporters. “I am taking this step because South Africa continues to impose several longstanding barriers to US trade, including barriers affecting certain US agricultural exports,” he said in a letter to Congress. US Trade...

SA has only 60 days to avoid a profoundly negative impact on its economy after the US threatened to suspend its duty-free farm trade status, industry role players warned on Friday. The DA's shadow minister of trade and industry Geordin Hill-Lewis, said in a statement South Africa's suspension from the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) will affect roughly R2.4bn of SA's annual agricultural exports, covering products like wine, fruit juice, citrus fruit, pulp and more. It could also cripple the already drought-hit agricultural...

US President Barack Obama has given South Africa 60 days to show it is meeting the requirements of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) before he imposes normal tariffs on South African agricultural products. Mr Obama said on Thursday that South Africa had until January 4 to satisfy him that it was complying with the eligibility requirements to enjoy duty-free access for its agricultural products under Agoa. Losing the duty-free status afforded by Agoa could affect US orders for South African citrus, which were valued at $57m...

The U.S. plans to suspend trade benefits on agricultural goods from South Africa, intensifying a dispute over that country’s restrictions on farm imports that had pitted farmers in the two nations against each other. The action follows a U.S. review of South Africa’s status as a full beneficiary of a preferential trade agreement under the African Growth and Opportunity Act, or AGOA, which eliminates import levies on more than 7,000 products ranging from textiles to manufactured items. The U.S. determined that South Africa has continued...

“During the past year, I have worked closely with leaders in government and industry in both of our countries to resolve the longstanding barriers to U.S. trade with South Africa, particularly with regard to American poultry, pork, and beef.  The U.S. arrived at the decision to suspend certain AGOA benefits for South Africa only after many months of discussions.  While the United States and South Africa have made significant progress in resolving outstanding issues, our trade in all three meats remains blocked.  I am...

The White House on Thursday moved to suspend agricultural trade benefits to South Africa over an unresolved poultry flap. U.S. trade officials said that if South Africa doesn't make a concerted effort to eliminate barriers to poultry, pork and beef exports the nation could lose its trading advantages under the recently renewed African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). “We are disappointed that South Africa has yet to resolve these issues,” said U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman.   “We do not take this decision lightly,...

Dear Mr. Speaker: (Dear Mr. President:) In accordance with sections 506A(d)(4)(C) and 506A(c) of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), I am providing 60-day advance notification of my intent to suspend the application of duty-free treatment to all AGOA-eligible goods in the agricultural sector for the Republic of South Africa 60 days after the date of this notification. I am taking this step because South Africa continues to impose several longstanding barriers to U.S. trade, including barriers affecting certain U.S....

An announcement in Washington DC is imminent that South Africa could lose some of its benefits under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) due to repeated missing of deadlines, which could result in the loss of thousands of jobs in key sectors. US Ambassador to South Africa Patrick Gaspard told Independent Media: “There is a recommendation (from the US Trade Representative) that has been advanced in Washington and which is making its way to President Obama. As a consequence of South Africa missing the last three critical...

South Africa has addressed the technical issues relating to market access of United States agricultural products raised during the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) review of South Africa, says the Department of Trade and Industry (dti). "We have facilitated the negotiations and sent all proposals to resolve the outstanding issues in regard to South Africa remaining a beneficiary of AGOA for the next 10 years and now await the response from the United States. "We remain fully committed to address any final technical matters that...