Last month we highlighted a sudden surge in chicken imports from Australia, including drumsticks at nearly half the price of imports from Brazil, a mass producer.
The sudden spurt of Australian chicken imports in December 2021 saw R626 550 worth of drumsticks imported at an average price of R8.89/kg. The South African producer price was between R34.67/kg and R35.46/kg.
Not only was the Australian import price half the price of drumsticks from Brazil – when that country was accused of dumping – but the crafty Aussies managed to land drumsticks in South Africa cheaper than chicken feet and the processed meat paste MDM.
The latest import statistics show that they did it again in January 2022.
In the first month of this year, Australia landed more than R1 million worth of drumsticks in South Africa. And they’re branching out into more bone-in imports – they also landed more than R421 000 worth of thighs for the South African market.
Both drumsticks (average price R8.74/kg) and thighs (R8.77/kg) were sold at lower prices than chicken feet (R9.01/kg), which are classed as offal.
As we asked last month – how do they do it?
