Australia has consistently supplied chicken drumsticks landed in South Africa at a third or less of the price that local producers get for the same product.
Volumes are small, but the prices are amazing. How they do it has yet to be explained – the costs of producing a chicken are similar all around the world. Local feed prices and industry competitiveness can make a difference, but not a 300% difference.
In January 2023, Australia did it again. They landed 196 tonnes of chicken drumsticks in South Africa at an import price of R11.60/kg. They were way cheaper than Brazil, the world’s largest poultry exporter and a dumper of bone-in chicken, which landed much higher volumes at R17.81/kg.
Of concern to the South African poultry industry is that the local producer price for drumsticks is between R37.78/kg and R39.76/kg. Australian drumsticks are coming in at three for the price of one.
It’s a pity that the volumes are probably too small to warrant an anti-dumping investigation.
