South African poultry producers are encouraged by sharp declines in bone-in chicken imports but remain concerned about record-high volumes of offal and mechanically deboned meat.
South African poultry producers have been watching the changing patterns of chicken imports with both relief and concern.
The relief relates to declining import volumes of bone-in portions such as leg quarters. These are the imports that have in the past caused severe problem for local producers, and bone-in portions are the focus of the orders for anti-dumping duties that are applied to nine countries.
Import volumes of bone-in portions have dropped sharply over the past five years, from a peak of 287 000 tonnes in 2018 to just under 40 000 tonnes in 2024. This is the result of the combined impact of anti-dumping duties and widespread outbreaks of bird flu in Europe and the United States.
On the other hand, since 2018 there has been a steady increase in imports of offal and of mechanically deboned meat (MDM), a paste used in the production of processed meats such as polony. Offal imports include chicken heads, feet, livers etc.
Together, offal and MDM constitute around 90% of South Africa’s chicken meat imports. Record high volumes of these imports have been responsible for annual chicken import increases in 2023 and 2024 after decreases in previous years.
MDM import volumes have increased from 154 000 tonnes in 2018 to 239 000 tonnes last year. Over the same period, offal imports rose from 49 000 tonnes to 94 000 tonnes.
Imports to February this year have continued the pattern. MDM imports were slightly ahead of the previous year, but offal volumes were up 9% on the first two months of 2024. Bone-in imports to end February were 62% below the same period in 2024.
While MDM is only produced in small quantities in South Africa, offal imports will compete directly with local products in the lower income market. Those consumers are set to benefit from the welcome exemption of offal from value added tax (VAT), but the move could result in even more offal imports.
