LETTER: Shouting fire in the chicken coop
Dumping exists, but the poultry industry’s main problems are not imports
I refer to Francois Baird’s most recent letter (“Wolpert is wrong to dismiss the threat from dumping (https://www.businesslive.co.za/bd/opinion/letters/2021-04-16-letter-wolpert-is-wrong-to-dismiss-the-threat-from-dumping/)”, April 16). It is Baird who is totally incorrect. Having read two of David Wolpert’s letters on the subject, it is clear he views poultry dumping as wrong and threatening. However, he correctly considers the cries of impending doom for the local poultry industry, emanating from Baird and his colleagues, as hysterical attempts to exaggerate a genuine challenge.
In 1999 chicken imports represented 12% of the market (source: SA Poultry Association and customs & excise department). Imports are now sitting at about 15% (excluding noncomparable items such as mechanically deboned meat, which is not produced in SA). That’s growth of three percentage points in 22 years. Local poultry has grown by far more than that...
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