S. Africa May Refund Chicken Duties If Charges Unclear

(Correct’s Dubbelman’s title in first paragraph. The Story
was first published on Aug. 8.)

South African poultry importers
bringing the meat in from Brazil stand to get a refund of
temporary tariffs unless final duties are imposed this week and
exceed the current charges, consultant Francois Dubbelman said.

The International Trade Administration Commission of South
Africa, which calculated the initial tariffs of as much as 63
percent on certain cuts, has presented Trade Minister Rob Davies
with a final report on its investigation on the imports, ITAC
said in an e-mailed reponse to questions on Aug. 2. The deadline
for the final tariffs is Aug. 10, Pretoria-based ITAC said in
February.

“If these final duties are not imposed on Friday, then
importers will be refunded their money for the past six
months,” Dubbelman, who is representing the South African
Poultry Association, said by phone today from Pretoria. “This
will have a bad effect on South Africa’s poultry industry. It
will mean importers can continue with what they are doing.”

South Africa imposed the duties after initial information
showed Brazilian producers were dumping products in the
continent’s biggest economy. The local price of yellow corn,
mainly used as animal feed, has surged 42 percent in the past
three years. Poultry imports have increased to a record and
chicken prices are the same as four years ago, according to
Astral Foods Ltd. (ARL), the country’s second-biggest chicken
producer.

Brazil in June filed a dispute against South Africa with
the World Trade Organization over the taxes it has to pay.

The South American producers include BRF Brasil Foods SA (BRFS3),
the world’s biggest poultry exporter, and Seara Alimentos, the
pork and poultry unit of Marfrig Alimentos SA (MRFG3), Latin America’s
second-largest producer of beef.

Final Duties

“There is too much chicken floating around in South
Africa, so there’s a depressed market and the prices are
unnaturally low,” Kevin Lovell, CEO of the South African
Poultry Association, said by phone yesterday. “I would say that
most of the companies are either running at a loss or very close
to doing that at present with the current pricing levels.”

If the final duties exceed the current provisional tariff,
importers won’t have to pay the difference, they will only start
paying the new higher duty, Dubbelman said. “However, if it is
lower than what they currently pay, they will have to be
refunded the difference.”

To contact the reporter on this story:
Tshepiso Mokhema in Johannesburg at
tmokhema@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Antony Sguazzin at
asguazzin@bloomberg.net

Culled from :Here

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Tags: Aug, ITAC, phone, south africa

Category: Africa