Major poultry producers such as the European Union and the United States have been able to dump unwanted chicken portions in South Africa because producers make their money on other chicken cuts.
The white meat of chicken breasts is prized in northern hemisphere markets, and sells at a premium. This leaves chicken producers with large quantities of brown meat – leg quarters, thighs and drumsticks – for which there is much less demand.
These surplus chicken portions are frozen in bulk packs and sold off to any market that will take them at any price they can get.
The target markets include South Africa, where the flavoursome and juicy brown meat is popular, as well as African and Caribbean countries. Huge bulk imports have devastated the poultry industries in a number of countries.
This is what South Africa’s anti-dumping duties on American chicken seek to avoid. And it is what is threatened by a continuation of the 72 000-tonne annual quota of US chicken imports free of these duties.
