CALL TO PROTECT SA’S POULTRY INDUSTRY:

TRADE measures were required to protect the poultry industry, particularly from job losses, plant closures and unfair competition, Department of Trade and Industry deputy director-general Garth Strachan said yesterday.

“It is important that these do not lead to higher price increases and price gouging along the value chain,” he told a public hearing on the poultry industry hosted by the portfolio committee on trade and industry in Parliament.

The troubles of the local industry have been blamed by some on unfair trade from EU and Brazil. The crisis has also been attributed to input costs relating to feed, electricity and labour.

The drought, too, is believed to have resulted in shortages of feed and less production of chicken – and ultimately to an increase in imports of cheap chicken.

Strachan said the poultry industry was a key component of the agricultural sector, with 48 000 direct and 63 000 indirect jobs.

“We believe the industry is competitive, but there are limited domestic capabilities in MDM (mechanically deboned meat) in South Africa.”

He said he believed the country was not presently competitive in chicken production.

The SA Poultry Association said the industry shrunk and lost 6 000 jobs in the past year.

Its chief executive, Kevin Lovell, said: “All the problems we have now come from dumping. We will not be able to compete with European and American dumping.”

Chicken imports could not grow the economy and were destructive to job creation, he said.

“The survival of South Africa’s poultry industry, food security, the livelihood of the rural economy and the future of up to 130 000 workers and their families is largely in the hands of government.”

However, Association of Meat Importers of South Africa’s Donald Mackay said: “We have a slightly different interpretation of the facts.”

He said the country needed to double its export volumes of chicken and find new markets. “Fundamentally, we stopped focusing on being competitive.”

He also said the notion of “dumping has become tiresome”.

“Dumping is happening. The anti-dumping mechanisms exist for a reason,” Mackay said. “We need greater focus on being world-class competitive and focus less on protectionism.”