Chicken imports cannot grow the South African economy and are destroying jobs, Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Trade and Industry heard today. The Committee was holding public hearings on the poultry industry.

Committee Chairperson Ms Joanmariae Fubbs said: “We are here because there is a crisis in making a living in the poultry industry. Has there been a time when money was made in the recent past?”

Mr Kevin Lovell, CEO of the South African Poultry Association (SAPA), told the Committee that imports fetch similar prices to local products. If food security fails, he said, the balance of payment will worsen and prices will go up. “There is no such thing as cheap food if you do not have a job.”

He advocated that chicken imports be stopped. “The droughts have not been the problem, unwelcome as they may be. Dumping remains the problem. We need action against dumping to survive, and support for cost reduction to grow and to export.”

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said anti-dumping duties were imposed in January 2015. The DTI said current anti-dumping duties will remain for a period of five years and can be further extended for another five years.

The DTI acknowledged that the sector is in crisis and said a range of further policy interventions are needed. This includes a task team to investigate industry protection/support, consumer prices and impact on wage earners, and increased investment by the private sector to raise capabilities and competitiveness.

Committee Member Mr Bheki Radebe said if dumping does occur, logic tells you that chicken prices should go down, yet they go up every year. Another Committee member, Ms Pricilla Mantashe, asked about the rate of retrenchment before mechanisation. Several Members of Parliament also wanted to know from poultry company Country Bird why it finds it easier to do business with the rest of Africa, rather than in South Africa and if local labour legislation had anything to do with it. The matter of brining also arose.

The Association of Meat Importers and Exporters (Amie SA) said that if there is dumping (above what was allowed in the regulations, proof of this should be provided and suitable actions devised to deal with it. Aime SA hinted that exports may be the solution to the challenges facing the.

Ms Fubbs raised the question of transformation in the industry, during the “golden years”. She said many run for government assistance when their backs are against the wall.

Rajaa Azzakani
23 March 2017