Brazil is selling more and more poultry to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia, two markets on South Africa’s export list but where progress has been painfully slow.
WATTPoultry reported that, in the first quarter of 2024, Brazil’s poultry exports to the UAE rose by 16% to 40 700 tonnes. Its sales to Saudi Arabia increased by 4% to 35 000 tonnes.
South Africa’s poultry exports last year totalled 48 500 tonnes, of which 46 800 tonnes was chicken. Nearly all went to neighbouring African states – only 1% went to the UAE and Saudi Arabia doesn’t rate a mention.
Brazil is climbing into a halaal market for both cooked and raw chicken that South Africa would love to exploit. The 2019 poultry master plan identified the UAE and Saudi Arabia as target markets for increased sales.
The objective then was to achieve a “significant expansion of halaal exports by Q1 2020”. Instead, total poultry exports have dropped in three of the last four years, and the 2023 total is below the 50 000-tonne starting point in 2019.
Chicken is on the menu as global demand rises, but Brazil is eating our lunch.
