South Africa missed its Dec. 31 deadline to resolve trade disputes with the U.S. or risk losing duty-free access on agricultural exports, but Africa’s most advanced economy “is on the verge” of a settlement and talks are continuing, according to news reports.

Disagreements over safety standards related to U.S. meat and chicken exports are what’s holding up the process, South African Trade Minister Rob Davies said, according to Bloomberg.

Talks between U.S. and South African trade representatives continued late on New Year’s Eve, BusinessDayLive reported. Outstanding issues remained unresolved when the Dec. 31 deadline expired, said Trevor Kincaid, spokesman for the U.S. Trade Representative office.

In an AGOA update Monday, South African Agriculture Minister Senzeni Zokwana said South Africa may start importing corn from the U.S. as soon as April if the drought continues. South Africa has only had enough corn in stock for four or five months, TheCitizen reported.

On Nov. 6, U.S. President Barack Obama gave South Africa 60 days to lift barriers to U.S. exports or face suspension of trade preferences on products such as wine, citrus, macadamia nuts and avocados under the African Growth and Opportunity Act, or AGOA.

AGOA allows preferential treatment including duty-free access to U.S. markets for 39 African countries on more than 7,000 products from textiles to manufactured goods. To qualify, African countries must eliminate barriers to U.S. trade and investment, operate a market-based economy, protect workers’ rights and implement economic policies to reduce poverty.

Suspension of AGOA will affect South African agriculture most severely initially, Davies told reporters in Pretoria Monday, “but we have been told that it can be reversed if we reach an agreement,” News24Wire reported.

Bilateral trade between the U.S. and South Africa was about $14 billion in 2014, Bloomberg reported. Under AGOA in the first three quarters of 2014, South African agricultural exports to the U.S. amounted to $154 million, according to the Stellenbosch-based Trade Law Centre. South Africa more than doubled its exports to the U.S. since 2000 under AGOA.

The suspension will go into immediate effect once it has been announced, affecting all goods in transit to the U.S., Bloomberg reported.

“We have been told that we will still be able to continue with negotiations even after the whistle is blown,” said Davies, who said South Africa was playing in extra time.

Negotiators have  reached settlements on issues including bird flu certificates and pork safety, Davies said, according to Eyewitnessnews. Outstanding issues involve cattle not born and reared in the U.S., quarantines and salmonella.

South Africa is now demanding that U.S. chicken imports be certified free of salmonella, a bacteria destroyed by cooking, BusinessDayLive reported. The U.S. says it exports chicken to 160 other countries that don’t impose this standard and that the standard itself is not required under World Trade Organisation rules. “Nobody eats chicken sushi,” an official said.

Also unresolved is South Africa’s ban on U.S. beef, originally imposed to prevent the spread of mad cow disease. The ban was lifted by Congress in August but now U.S. herds containing cattle imported from Canada and Mexico are creating a sticking point. South Africa wants assurances that meat from these animals will not be included in imports from the U.S. That’s impossible, the U.S. says, according to BusinessDayLive.

Vets from both countries are scheduled to meet Jan. 6, Bloomberg reported. If South Africa loses trade benefits, it can reapply for full AGOA access once the dispute is resolved. Preferences can be restored quickly, Davies said.

Almost 80 percent of South Africa’s agricultural exports to the U.S under AGOA come from the Western Cape. South African wine accounts for about 1 percent of U.S. consumption, but the U.S. is South Africa’s fifth-largest export market, said Jonathen Ralph, general manager for the Americas at KWV Holdings Ltd., one of the leading wine and spirits producers in South Africa, Bloomberg reported. “It’s going to be very detrimental to the wine industry” if exports are excluded, he said.