Source: Chris Scott, MEATINGPLACE, 9/22/15

A recently signed tentative agreement between U.S. and South African trade representatives will open the door for U.S. poultry exports starting Oct. 15, according to a report from China’s official state news agency Xinhua.

An official with South Africa’s African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) committee told Xinhua that the protocol to be followed in the wake of lengthy talks and a tentative agreement signed in Paris in June will start next month. An estimated 65,000 metric tons of bone-in chicken from U.S. producers is expected to arrive in South Africa duty free as outlined in the Paris talks, the report noted.

South Africa imposed the ban on U.S. poultry in 2000 as part of an antidumping program and partially in response to a U.S. sanction barring South African beef and ostrich from U.S. markets. The issue attracted the attention of several U.S. lawmakers in recent months, including two U.S. senators who asked South African President Jacob Zuma last week to help resolve the trade conflict.

The office of the U.S. Trade Representative has yet to comment on the report, but confirmed that the value of U.S. goods and services exported to South Africa totaled $10 billion in 2012, the latest figures available.

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