A black economic empowerment consortium in South Africa that acquired interests in poultry said it’s feeling pressure from U.S. chicken imported under the African Growth and Opportunity Act.

Afpo, a BEE consortium led by Matome Maponya Investments, acquired 54 percent of Daybreak Farms. South Africa’s Public Investment Corporation and some minority investors funded the rest of the investment.

Kholofelo Maponya, CEO of Daybreak Farms, told BusinessDayLive that since U.S. chicken imports started hitting South African shelves this month, production losses have become a reality with 1,000-plus jobs at risk.

“We have reduced production by 15 percent … We are already negatively affected by the increase that has flooded the market,” Maponya said.

Most of the chicken imported from the U.S. is not sold in major South African retail stores, according to a report in the Sowetan.

“You will find these products generally at third-tier supermarkets, as they are aimed at lower income groups,” said South African Poultry Association CEO Kevin Lovell.

It’s the first time in 15 years that U.S. chicken imports have been on South African supermarket shelves, ending a drawn-out trade dispute and ensuring South Africa would continue to receive trade benefits under AGOA, IndependentOnline reported.

Before the AGOA renewal, stakeholders worried about adverse effects U.S. chicken imports would have on black businesses. Under the trade agreement, South Africa is obliged to import 65,000 tonnes of chicken from the U.S. a year, half of which can be distributed by black-owned businesses, BusinessDayLive reported.

Qualifying black importers must comply with expensive requirements for a quota allocation of 1,025 tonnes of chicken. An importer must own storage and distribution facilities, and have health-regulation compliance certificates.

U.S. President Barack Obama said on Nov. 5 that South African citrus and wine products would be disqualified from duty-free status in the U.S. if South Africa failed to allow imports of U.S. poultry, beef and pork by Jan. 4.

South Africa missed the deadline but both sides reached an agreement anyway. Lifting the barriers to U.S. poultry, beef and pork exports to South Africa will increase sales by about US$160 million a year, said U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman, IndependentOnline reported.

U.S. chicken exports will account for almost $100 million of that, said Mike Brown, president of the U.S. National Chicken Council.

AGOA, unlike other preferential trade deals, is a unilateral trade deal. It allows least developed and developing countries in sub-Saharan African additional market access in the U.S. AGOA extends duty-free and quota-free access to U.S. market, said Cyril Prinsloo, a researcher in the economic diplomacy program at the South African Institute of International Affairs.

Prinsloo’s analysis of AGOA and the future of U.S.-South Africa relations was published in WorldCommerceReview:

While AGOA is a nonreciprocal and unilateral agreement — countries do not have to concede market access to the U.S. — it is not unconditional. In order to benefit under AGOA, the U.S. requires countries to comply with a broad range of conditions such as respecting and promotion of the rule of law, respecting human and workers’ rights, and upholding democratic and market-based economic principles. AGOA eligibility criteria also dictate that barriers to U.S. trade and investment should be removed.