Since the ban on Brazilian poultry imports was announced last month, South Africa’s chicken importers have resorted to crisis warnings and scary messaging to try to force the government to get supplies flowing again.
Now perhaps they will quieten down. The ban now applies only to one province, producing 12% of Brazil’s chicken, and even that will go if South Africa lifts the ban following Brazil’s declaration that its commercial poultry flocks are now free of bird flu.
More than 80% of South Africa’s chicken imports – mainly mechanically deboned meat (MDM) and offal – comes from Brazil. Importers must have faced a huge loss of income from this lucrative market. Ahead of the Brazil bird flu outbreak, they called for a compartmentalisation agreement, but Brazil dithered about applying for one.
When South Africa announced a ban on all Brazilian poultry on 19 May, importers reacted swiftly. South Africa faced “an economic and food security crisis” because of the shortage of MDM and offal, importers warned in a statement.
They have emphasised the importance of offal and MDM – a paste used in the manufacture of polony and sausages – for school lunches.
Even though the initial ban will only now start hitting imports shipped six weeks ago from Brazil, importers are already claiming that the country “has been losing over 100 million meals per week due to the ban”. Really?
Not a word, of course, about how much money importers might be losing.
The flow of Brazilian imports will soon resume, because the compartmentalisation agreement limits the ban to the Rio Grande do Sol province, which produces only 12% of the country’s poultry. Supplies from the other 88% are probably already on their way.
The supply of MDM is a real issue because it is not produced in any quantities locally. But we have yet to see an “economic and food security crisis” from a supply ban in effect only from 1 May to 19 June. Import volumes will give us the facts in the weeks and months ahead.
There is no shortage of fresh and frozen chicken on supermarket shelves, because 80% of South Africa’s chicken supply comes from local producers.
