Despite the challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, the South African government has successfully negotiated a new export certificate for the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Access to more countries are expected to follow soon.
When the poultry industry master plan was signed in 2019, no one could have predicted the devastating effects that a pandemic would have on the world during 2020.
While the South African government is working out how to deliver on the promises of increased local production and job creation in terms of president Cyril Ramaphosa’s economic recovery plan, the South African Poultry Association (SAPA) has announced that progress has been made towards increasing exports of poultry.
“It is gratifying that despite the challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, we can confirm that certain crucial steps have been taken towards enabling more exports of South African chicken,” says Izaak Breitenbach, general manager of SAPA’s Broiler Organisation. “It is to the credit of ministers Ebrahim Patel and Thoko Didiza that local chicken products can now be exported to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and hopefully also soon to Saudi Arabia and elsewhere.”
This follows successful negotiations by the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development (DALRRD) to procure a new export certificate that opens the UAE to exports of poultry products.
Steps are also being taken to facilitate exports to South Africa’s neighbours belonging to the South African Customs Union (SACU). South Africa has export certificates in place for Namibia, Botswana and Eswatini. However, access is restricted in terms of these countries’ quota policy. The expectation is that the SACU arrangements will be smoothed in terms of the master plan to enable more exports.
