State delays choke SA’s multi-billion rand poultry export potential

South Africa’s restricted poultry exports can no longer be viewed as a missed commercial opportunity. It must be confronted as a critical structural failure that directly threatens the growth and economic stability of the agricultural value chain.

This was the collective consensus from agricultural and trade experts during a recent webinar hosted by advocacy group FairPlay. Key industry stakeholders gathered to discuss persistent market barriers, logistical failures, and the urgent reforms needed to unlock global trade.

The push to expand outbound trade comes at a critical time for domestic food security. Advocacy groups have highlighted the severity of child malnutrition across the country, citing recent data showing that nearly 29% of children under five experience stunted growth. An estimated 30 children die every day from malnutrition-related causes.

Hurdles stall poultry export drive

Francois Baird, founder of the FairPlay anti-dumping trade movement and host of the webinar, questioned industry leaders on whether systemic bottlenecks had been directly elevated to state leadership, asking if a definitive government plan exists to address them.

Izaak Breitenbach, general manager of the Broiler Organisation of the South African Poultry Association (SAPA), explained that while the industry was in severe distress a decade ago, shrinking year-on-year due to capital consumption being absorbed by imports, the 2019 Poultry Master Plan materially altered its fortunes.

“This industry, now, as we sit here today, has grown 26% since 2019,” Breitenbach said. He highlighted that South Africa has achieved global competitiveness, producing chicken cheaper than the European Union for the past 13 years and, for the first time this year, cheaper than the United States.

While anti-dumping duties successfully mitigated foreign product dumping, substantial private investment has since created 120 000 tonnes of completely new cooking capacity for poultry meat.

“So if we talk about this industry, this industry is ready to export cooked meat to different countries in the world. But yet, we are not doing it. If there is one thing that will change this grain value chain materially, it would be exports. We have local demand that is stagnating, and we need to open up new markets to export our cooked meat too,” Breitenbach added.

Private sector forced into self-sufficiency

Gerald Walter, group executive of the commercial division at Sovereign Foods, echoed the necessity of escaping stagnated domestic growth through aggressive export strategies.

Sovereign Foods successfully established a self-sufficient footprint in the Gulf region by investing in physical brick-and-mortar infrastructure, warehouses, and distribution offices in Dubai and the Ajman Free Zone.

However, Walter was highly critical of the state’s absence in facilitating this expansion, noting that companies are forced to navigate foreign ministries entirely on their own.

“We don’t really have help. We don’t have assistance locally. I am critical about the support that we get from the government departments; it’s literally non-existent.”
Gerald Walter

With these lucrative international markets ready for local supply, industry body representatives emphasised that the business sector cannot bypass governmental systemic delays on its own indefinitely.

To bridge this impasse, poultry producers intend to enforce a continuous, strict monitoring schedule with state officials to ensure the necessary administrative capacity is delivered.

“The problem for us is that it is all continuing. We are still not making progress on the matters that we are dealing with,

“And certainly, if we meet with the minister again – and we plan to meet with the minister every six months – that will be high on the agenda. That will be the skill shortage and delivery times that we have from the department,” Breitenbach said.