The Brazilian Association of Animal Protein claims that higher import tariffs will hurt consumers as they would have to pay more for imported chicken and “there would be a lack of supply” by SA’s producers (Poultry imports tariff hikes —‘will hurt SA’, January 14). This is simply untrue. Equally untrue is their further claim that domestically produced chicken combined with imports result in a partnership that creates jobs and gives SA families access to healthy, top-quality poultry meat. The fact is that we don’t need to import chicken — SA can produce enough chicken locally. Imports have forced local producers to cut back on production, leaving them with spare capacity. As a result, they cannot achieve economies of scale, which reduces their profitability and has already caused job losses. Higher import tariffs will allow local producers to step up supply, using capacity they already have to replace more expensive imports. Furthermore, jobs will be created and the benefits of econo...
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