Chicken Industry

Australia keeps banging the drums

Although volumes are often small, Australia has sent a steady supply of chicken drumsticks to South Africa this year at extraordinarily low prices, undercutting the local market.

Official statistics for May, the latest available, show that Australia has once again landed frozen chicken drumsticks in South Africa at lower prices than some of the world’s major poultry exporters such as Brazil and the US.

Although it supplied only 24 tonnes of drumsticks in May, far lower than previous months, the Australian landed price of 9.87/kg was below Brazil (R14.62/kg) and the US (R11.91/kg) in the same month. Even after import tariffs of 62% are applied, all of these import prices are way below the South African producer price of drumsticks of around R36/kg.

Australia also landed 200 tonnes of chicken feet in May, at an average import price of R6.68/kg. Again they beat Brazil (R8.87/kg) and the US (R10.84/kg).

How do they do it? The mystery continues.