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Bird flu vaccination works, now governments must act. This was the message from the world’s poultry veterinary associations, meeting earlier this month in Malaysia.

President Cyril Ramaphosa urged South Africa’s large supermarket groups to lower food prices, which he said were the cause of rising food price inflation.

The South African poultry industry has not applied for any new anti-dumping duties on chicken imports, and does not intend to do so in the near future.

South Africa can look forward to above-average rainfall into early 2026. This should herald another bumper grain harvest and lower feed prices for livestock producers.

While South Africa tries to lower the 30% tariffs charged on its agricultural exports to the United States, the country’s farmers are working hard to develop alternative markets.

South Africa’s poultry imports recovered markedly in August this year, but still showed the impact of the nine-week bird flu ban on chicken imports from Brazil.

South Africa’s food security is at its lowest level in more than 10 years, according to an index produced by a major supermarket group.

No South African poultry producer has been accused of anti-competitive behaviour, clarified the SA Poultry Association (SAPA), in response to media reports about the Competition Commission’s market inquiry into the industry.

South Africa’s poultry industry could make a positive contribution to the trade talks with the United States if it was invited to join the discussion, according to Marthinus Stander, CEO of Rainbow, a major poultry producer.

AGOA is still breathing, but only just. There are new signs that the African Growth and Opportunity Act, which has given African countries preferential access to the United States market, may be revived after it expired at the end of last month.

The huge success of France’s vaccination campaign against avian influenza (bird flu) has been highlighted by the country’s National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment (Inrae).

SA’s poultry industry (the country’s largest agricultural employer and its primary source of affordable protein) is being undermined and threatened. Not by foreign competitors but by the policies that claim to support it.

Panellists on the FairPlay webinar on trade negotiations agreed that, when the poultry industry’s future was at stake, the poultry industry should be at the table.

The benefits of large-scale poultry production were spelled out this week by the SA Poultry Association (SAPA).

Astral Foods, South Africa’s largest poultry producer, has said it supports the market inquiry into the poultry industry and will use it to brief competition officials on the industry’s structure, competitiveness and its contribution to jobs and food security.

One of South Africa’s top stock market analysts, Anthony Clark, has slammed the Competition Commission’s market inquiry into the poultry sector as “a joke” and “a travesty”.

The South African government has friendly words for the country’s poultry industry, but its actions make chicken farming more difficult.

The dangers facing the South African poultry industry because of a duty-free quota of chicken imports from the United States have been spelled out by FairPlay founder Francois Baird.

Did AGOA die quietly this week, or is there a chance that America’s trade deal with Africa countries might be revived in altered form?

Egypt is Africa’s major poultry producer, with South Africa close behind in second place, according to statistics published by Mauritius-based African Exponent.

Pascal Lamy, France’s former head of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), believes the world trade will adjust without upheaval or catastrophe to the new tariffs being imposed by the United States.

Two weeks ago, FairPlay challenged chicken importers to show that they had not made a killing from high selling prices during the temporary ban in imports from Brazil.

The South African poultry industry has called on the government to deliver on its promises in order to revive the “stalled” implementation of the poultry master plan.

South Africa’s trade minister, Parks Tau, said after discussions with United States officials that he was “cautiously optimistic” the two countries would reach agreement on a trade deal.

While South Africa’s poultry industry feels let down, other industries are getting government support as they battle new United States tariffs.

The European poultry industry is fighting against concessions made to South America in a looming trade pact between the two regions.

South Africa is food secure as a nation and produces food for export, but horrific statistics of hunger and malnutrition illustrate the often dire situation in the country’s poorest households.

Poultry imports to South Africa plummeted for a second successive month in July due to the nine-week bird flu ban on Brazil. Local producers increased production in response, keeping supply and retail prices stable.

Are chicken importers still making a killing from selling frozen packs of mechanically deboned meat (MDM) at very high prices? […]

South Africans are expected to eat more meat per person as incomes improve over the coming decade, with chicken leading the way because of affordability and the fact that it is seen as a healthy dietary option.

A South African negotiating team is in the United States, hoping to negotiate a trade deal that lowers US import […]

United States trade negotiators are demanding the lifting of general tariffs on imports of American chicken into South Africa. The problem for South African negotiators is that the duties apply to multiple countries, not only the US.

Discussions about general duties come as South African poultry producers are already facing the likelihood of a 72 000-tonne annual quota of American chicken imports free of the anti-dumping duties that should apply.