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Picture: 123RF/ANDOR BUJDOSO
Picture: 123RF/ANDOR BUJDOSO

New rules for chicken imports and exports are the focus of this edition of the Business Day Spotlight. 

Our host Mudiwa Gavaza is joined by Donald MacKay, CEO of XA Global Trade Advisors and Paul Matthew, CEO of SA’s Association of Meat Importers and Exporters (AMIE).

Earlier in the month government announced a 12-month suspension of punitive anti-dumping measures against five countries found to have been dumping bone-in chicken in SA. Such dumping is said to have dealt a blow to work that has gone into the poultry master plan over the past two years.

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Signed in 2019, the poultry master plan laments that potential growth in local production has been displaced by imports. This has mainly been due to the lower prices at which imports have come into the local market. 

At the heart of a matter is a local industry grappling with whether it can stand up to and compete with international players. 

Mackay says without making this move, prices of poultry products in the local market would have risen. The suspension alleviates some of the pressure already faced by consumers in a high inflationary environment. Once lifted, it’s unclear how prices will move, owing to other input costs such as feed that go into chicken production. 

Matthew bemoans the apparent lack of political will for SA producers to compete in international markets. He doubts that the local market can be self sufficient if current mindsets around imports and exports persist. 

AMIE has been calling for the urgent removal of trade tariffs on all poultry products, a three-year moratorium on any new tariffs, and supports the removal of VAT “to ensure cash-strapped consumers will still be able to afford this critical source of protein”.

Topics of discussion include: government’s decision to suspend punitive anti-dumping measures in the sector; the impact of inflation on poultry prices; the tension between protecting vs opening up the local market; SA’s techniques for chicken production; and an apparent lack of will for SA producers to compete in international markets.

Engage on Twitter at #BDSpotlight

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Business Day Spotlight is a MultimediaLIVE production.

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