Brazil goes to WTO over South African poultry duties

Brazil and South Africa are going to the WTO, after Brasilia lodged a complaint regarding Pretoria’s anti-dumping duties on Brazilian poultry products, Reuters reports.

In its request for consultations – the first stage in the dispute settlement process – Brasilia argues that the anti-dumping duties are founded on insufficient evidence of dumping, and that there is no causal link between the imports and potential injuries for South Africa’s industry. As a consequence, the duties violate the WTO’s agreement on anti-dumping duties, Brazil claims.

In February, Pretoria had imposed provisional anti-dumping duties on frozen chicken products coming from Brazil, its main agriculture trading partner, on the grounds that these imports were causing harm to the industry in the South African Customs Union. All whole frozen chickens coming from the Latin American partner were subjected to an additional 63% duty, while additional duties ranging from 6 to 47% were imposed on boneless cuts.

According to UBABEF (the Brazilian Poultry Association), a positive WTO ruling could reverse US$70 million in annual losses to the Brazilian industry.

Source: Reuters
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