How to end ‘chicken war’

I refer to the numerous reports published over the past two weeks relating to industry meetings chaired by new trade & industry minister Ebrahim Patel, especially the one involving warring local and imported chicken traders.

As somebody who spent more than 10 years deeply immersed in these ugly, hugely adversarial and expensive “chicken wars”, I think that Patel’s novel approach is a breath of fresh air.

There were always two victims in these battles — the consumer and the truth. Getting the adversaries to talk and draw up plans is a very good first step, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves. The road ahead is difficult. An export drive, mentioned as one of the aims, is long overdue and though our local producers are world class, there are some serious obstacles.

Local chicken is still heavily brined and most potential importers will not accept that, so the removal of brining will add to production costs.

Second, the biggest potential market, the EU, requires a veterinary health certificate certifying that SA poultry is free of Newcastle disease. SA veterinary authorities have been unable to do this.

The next obstacle is that the local industry feels threatened by import growth. Unless there is a compromise in this area, deadlock is guaranteed with a resumption in hostilities.

The best practical option is for the parties to agree on a tariff, with each side giving up something. This must be accompanied by price guarantees for consumers. This action must be followed by a total tariff protection application ceasefire for a reasonable time period. If not, another duty application will soon follow.

David Wolpert Rivonia