Agriculture

Offal imports need to be watched

FairPlay has recently focused on the extraordinarily low cost of Australian chicken drumsticks imported into South Africa. We have written to the SA Revenue Service (SARS) suggesting inspections to ensure they are being paid the proper amount of import duty.
 
Another issue from the monthly imports reports produced by the SA Poultry Association (SAPA) is the increasing amount of low-tariff chicken offal being imported while volumes of high-tariff portions such as leg quarters are declining.
 
The tariff on imported chicken offal (livers, feet and heads) is 30%, lower than that for whole birds (82%), bone-in portions (62%) or boneless portions (42%). The SA Revenue Service (SARS) is investigating a number of consignments which may have been wrongly declared as offal.
 
Offal imports in 2022 so far are higher than any of the previous four years, and nearly double those of 2019.  They are rising steadily. Offal imports in April 2022 were 5.3% above the previous month and 82.9% higher than April 2021. For the first four months of the year, offal imports are running at 47.8% above the same period in 2021.
 
Offal comprised nearly 25% of Brazilian imports in April 2022, after averaging 20% over the first quarter of the year.
 
Perhaps SARS should open a few cases of imported chicken offal and see what’s inside.