The poultry industry is a vital part of the South African economy, and it deserves more support and protection from the government, according to Rainbow CEO Marthinus Stander.
Rainbow, one of South Africa’s major poultry producers, has just released financial results showing a strong recovery from the hardships of 2023, when bird flu devastated the industry.
The domestic poultry industry is worth around R65 billion, making it the country’s second-largest agricultural sector. It is also the sector’s largest employer, employing almost 58,000 South Africans across the value chain and a major consumer of South African maize and soya.
However, despite being “a national asset” vital to the country’s food security, the poultry industry remained under severe pressure, Stander told the Daily Investor.
Without mentioning the threatened 72 000-tonne annual duty-free quota that South Africa is offering to US trade negotiators, Stander explained how dumped chicken imports hurt local producers.
He said these imports, mainly leg quarters, are “left overs” in areas like Europe and the US after producers have sold the white chicken breast meat at premium prices. They are sold off at artificially low prices to other countries such as South Africa, where they are in high demand.
“We are vulnerable from that point of view. You cannot compete against dumping because the price of that leg quarter has got nothing to do with the cost of production in those countries; it’s the price of spare parts,” Stander explained.
He said the poultry master plan could help, both in protection against dumped imports and in helping exports, which are seen as critical to the sector’s continued growth. The poultry industry needed access to the lucrative breast meat markets abroad.
“This is where we need the government to assist, because we need independent laboratories to verify that our product is good, we need the veterinary services to access the markets, we need government-to-government interventions to open the door,” Stander said.
