Question NW1926 to the Minister of Trade and Industry

Reply:

a) There are no formal terms of reference. The Department of Trade and Industry (the dti), through its 14 sectors desks routinely establishes working groups or task teams with industry stakeholders to address critical issues in sectors of the manufacturing economy. The Poultry Task Team (PTT) was established in January 2017 to seek a collaborative approach to resolving issues in the primary production section of the poultry sub-sector, taking into consideration economic data and factors across the entire value chain. In so doing to design, develop and deploy as and where appropriate, collaborative measures to resolve these issues. The PTT includes representatives of government departments (Trade and Industry; Economic Development and Agriculture Forestry and Fishing); representatives of the South African Poultry Organisation and labour (Food and Allied Workers Union) as well as the Industrial Development Corporation and technical experts from the not for profit, section 21 company; Trade and Industrial Policy Studies (TIPS), contracted by the dti to undertake this work. From time to time government departments represented on the Task Team meet separately to formulate government approaches to the work and as and where appropriate brief other government agencies such as the International Trade Administration Commission (ITAC). In all instances government officials take into consideration the separate constitutional mandates and functions of the government departments and agencies which work together to achieve optimal socio-economic outcomes for South Africa and safeguard the integrity and independence of regulatory institutions such as ITAC. Government also seeks to secure collaborative arrangements with private sector entities. This process also recognises the independence of these entities.

b.i) The Task Team has met on 5 occasions,

b.ii) on the following dates: 16 February 2017; 09 March 2017; 06 April 2017; 16 May 2017 and 08 June 2017

c.i) Government has met with the Association of Meat Importers and Exporters (AMIE); provided a formal briefing to the Commissioners of the International Trade Administration Commission after receiving a request to do so, briefed both the Select Committee on Trade and International Relations and briefed and participated in the public hearings of the Portfolio Committee on Trade and Industry. In the latter instance all the Submissions made by a wide variety of stakeholders have been factored into the work of government and in its engagements with stakeholders, including those represented on the Task Team.

c.ii) The dates of these engagements are:

Association of Meat Importers and Exporters – 15 February 2017 and 11 May 2017 (EDD and the dti)

International Trade Administration Commission – 13 February 2017 and 13 June 2017 (the dti)

Select Committee on Trade and International Relations – 01 February 2017 (EDD .the dti and DAFF)

Portfolio Committee on Trade and Industry – 23 March 2017; 02 May 2017 and 09 May 2017 (the dti)

This list does not include bilateral meetings which may have been held by individual government departments with companies in the poultry sector including on-site inspections and visits.

d) In keeping with similar collaborative engagements in other sectors of the economy the Task Team does not come up with a set of ‘findings’. An example would be in the steel sector where there is extensive and ongoing, long-term work and collaborative engagements with the private sector. In this regard details of the ongoing work of government and with respect to its engagements in the Poultry Task Team, are a matter of public record since they were presented to Parliament on two occasions in considerable detail. Specific policy announcements by government on particular policy interventions such as the recently announced Agro-processing Incentive will be made, as and when this work on each measure has been completed, and as and where appropriate.

Reciprocal, private sector measures and interventions to save jobs, increase investment and exports, secure empowerment objectives and so forth, have and will be made by the private sector as and when such institutions consider it appropriate to do so. In this regard government respects the commercial and legal independence of industry associations, trade unions and companies, including with respect to those matters with which government may not be in agreement and whether or not they may have or may not have been discussed in the Task Team.