Losing AGOA benefits costly to S. Africa: business chamber

South Africa stands to lose jobs and billions of rands should the United States go ahead with the exclusion of South Africa from agricultural benefits under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), a business chamber said on Wednesday.

The exclusion of specified agricultural products not only impact the agricultural sector but stands to affect overall trade in South Africa negatively, the South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SACCI) said.

South Africa missed the deadline of January 4 set by U.S. President Barack Obama in November 2015 to lift the ban on U.S. meat imports or face the risk of losing the AGOA benefits.

The U.S. on Monday reportedly decided to put off its final decision on whether to suspend duty-free benefits for South African agricultural products. The U.S. is still expected to make a final decision this week.

SACCI said it is very concerned with the impasse in negotiations between South Africa and the U.S. on the issues surrounding AGOA.

The SA government on Tuesday expressed confidence that outstanding technical issues would be resolved in trade negotiations with the United States.

SA government officials have been engaged with their U.S. counterparts during the festive season to finalize all the outstanding technical issues to allow for safe imports of poultry, pork and beef products from the United States, said Sidwell Medupe, spokesperson of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).

Since the negotiations began South Africa has made significant progress on opening its market for poultry, pork and beef from the United States, according to the DTI.

This includes an agreement on a quota for bone-in-chicken pieces and a poultry trade protocol on avian flu.

Although the deadline has passed, both sides are committed to continue the negotiations, the DTI said.

South Africa believes that with some flexibility from both sides the final touches to the agreement on which 95 percent of the work has been done can be completed with some extra-time, Medupe said.

South Africa blocks chicken imports from the U.S. because of outbreaks of avian flu in parts of the U.S. and because of concerns about salmonella infection. It has also been citing concerns about diseases in pork and beef to block imports of those products.

SA exported 176 million U.S. dollars worth of agricultural products to the U.S. last year, mainly citrus and wine. It is not clear how much its exports would be reduced by the loss of AGOA benefits, but it is expected that products to be affected will include macadamia nuts, avocados, citrus products, canned fruits, and possibly even wine.

In June 2015, officials from both sides agreed partly to lift the anti-dumping duties on U.S. chicken imports, to allow a quota of 65,000 tonnes a year to be imported. This would be subject to several conditions being met.

Although the U.S. renewed the AGOA for another decade in July last year, Washington is currently conducting an out-of-cycle review of SA's participation in the programme.

The AGOA, a legislation that was approved by the U.S. Congress in May 2000, is to assist the economies of Sub-Saharan Africa and to improve economic relations between the U.S. and the region. The Act provides trade preferences for quota and duty-free entry into the U.S. for certain products. Endit