The South African Poultry Association (Sapa) and the International Trade Administration Commission (ITAC) are at loggerheads over rebates for selected poultry imports. The association has accused the commission of not consulting and suffocating the local producers who were already battling to make ends meet.
Thalukanyo Nangammbi, the communication manager of the ITAC, said during their investigations, comments were received from local and international poultry leaders, including the poultry association, on the status of the industry amid the bird flu outbreak.
The battle of the poultry industry
“As detailed in ITAC Report 726, on balance, the commission considered the inherent forecasting nature of Sapa’s contingency measures, which lacked a definitive methodology to ascertain guaranteed yields for the proposed strategies. Consequently, the commission estimates a shortage of approximately 172 000 tons for the year 2024, to be issued on a quarterly basis should it be required, i.e., 43 000 tons per quarter,” Nangammbi said.
Nangammbi said the rebate provision may be discontinued if domestic production has satisfactorily recovered from the HPAI (avian influenza) outbreak.
“Furthermore, the rebate may also be suspended in an instance where the ministers of agriculture, land reform, and rural development advise the commission that the outbreak is under control and ‘domestic production has returned to levels which safeguard food security in Sacu.
“As the industry is aware, ITAC generally embarks on a rigorous investigation process and bases its recommendations on the evidence available at its disposal. The rebate was created for the purpose of addressing the impact on food security and price impact on the lower segment of the market, as a result of the HPAI outbreak in South Africa,” he said.
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‘The country does not need chicken imports’
Meanwhile, Sapa’s broiler organisation general manager Izaak Breitenbach, said he is puzzled by the commission’s reasoning behind awarding these rebates, which Sapa believes are unnecessary, unjustified, and damaging to the domestic poultry industry.
“It’s quite ironic ITAC is the institution that calculated the material harm done to the local industry because of dumped poultry products, yet it has approved 65 permits, some of which will enable importers to purchase dumped products.
Breitenbach said in 2023, the Poultry Association guaranteed South Africa that it would not experience any shortages over the festive season, and it didn’t. “The association and its members are confident in its calculations and its approach in supplying South Africa with chicken, as the last reported shortages were over three years ago,” he said.
According to Breitenbach, capacity has grown significantly in the last five years due to the industry’s investments totalling more than R2.1 billion, creating thousands of new jobs and bolstering South Africa’s food security status in the process.
“These rebate permits are undoing that work. They are designed to encourage additional chicken imports when the country does not need them. They will cause further harm to the South African poultry industry, which is beset by challenges on all sides.
“It is recovering from the unprecedented avian influenza outbreaks in 2023 with no aid,” he said.
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