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Poultry Tariffs in South Africa: Levelling the Playing Field or Rewarding Inefficiency?

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Africa’s Competitiveness in the Global Economy

Part of the book series: AIB Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) Series ((AIBSSA))

Abstract

The imposition of import tariffs as a means of protecting local industry is hotly contested. On the one hand such tariffs may help to protect local industries whose international counterparts are guilty of dumping and receiving financial assistance from their own governments. On the other hand, tariffs may serve to buttress uncompetitive local industries and actually serve to harm the poor by reducing competition, thereby allowing local companies to increase their prices. Into this mix is thrown the reciprocity of international trade agreements and the impact that imposing tariffs might have on these agreements. This debate was nowhere more evident than in the decision in 2013 by South Africa to increase import tariffs on certain categories of chicken meat. The case in this chapter examines the dilemmas and debate.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The Protocol on Trade in the Southern African Development Community was signed in 1996, and entered into force in 2001. [Source: Southern African Development Community (n.d.), “Protocols”, available at: www.sadc.int/index.php/documents-publications/protocols?sortBy=34&pageSize=4&doc_q_0=&sortOrder=desc&filterByKey=&filterByVal=&page=7 (accessed 8 February 2015).]

  2. 2.

    The Trade, Development and Co-operation Agreement was signed in 1999, and entered into force fully in 2004. [Source: Europa (n.d.), “Trade, Development and Cooperation Agreement (TDCA)”, Summaries of EU legislation, available at: http://europa.eu/legislation_summaries/development/south_africa/r12201_en.htm (accessed 8 February 2015).]

  3. 3.

    Note that a tariff of 91% was in excess of South Africa’s bound rate for broiler meat of 82%. If applied, such a tariff would open the door to disputes against South Africa at the World Trade Organisation (WTO). [Source: World Integrated Trade Solution (n.d.), “Types of Tariffs”, available at: http://wits.worldbank.org/WITS/wits/WITSHELP/Content/Data_Retrieval/P/Intro/C2.Types_of_Tariffs.htm?AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1 (accessed 29 May 2014).]

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa

    Jacklynne Hobbs & Claire Beswick

  2. South African Institute of International Affairs, Johannesburg, South Africa

    Peter Draper

Authors
  1. Jacklynne Hobbs
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  2. Peter Draper
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  3. Claire Beswick
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Haslam College of Business, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, USA

    Ifedapo Adeleye

  2. Harvard University, MA, USA

    Mark Esposito

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Hobbs, J., Draper, P., Beswick, C. (2018). Poultry Tariffs in South Africa: Levelling the Playing Field or Rewarding Inefficiency?. In: Adeleye, I., Esposito, M. (eds) Africa’s Competitiveness in the Global Economy. AIB Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) Series. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-67014-0_14

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