How imports threaten survival of SA’s small chicken farmers
SA Poultry Association says half of small chicken farmers have gone out of business in the past six months due to imports from the EU and Brazil
The SA Poultry Association has warned that more local chicken farmers could soon go out of business due to cheap Brazilian imports. The association said that half of small chicken farmers have gone out of business in the past six months due to the “fact that their potential markets have been flooded by ever-increasing volumes of dumped chicken, especially from Brazil”. The local poultry sector employs about 130,000 people. However, it has shed hundreds of jobs in recent years, blaming this on an influx of cheap chicken imports chiefly from the EU and Brazil. Brazil is the world’s largest poultry exporter. Local farmers and unions argue that the EU and Brazil sell chicken meat below cost and have called on the government to intervene. But the EU and producers in the South American country have said their farmers are simply more competitive than their counterparts in SA. The SA Poultry Association recently approached the International Trade Administration Commission — the organisati...
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