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BusinessLive reports that chicken prices are set to rise as antidumping duties, which had been suspended for 12 months, are reintroduced on bone-in chicken portions from five countries to protect the local poultry industry.
The industry, which has faced pressure from high feed costs and frequent power interruptions that have affected production, has complained that it cannot compete with imported chicken, which it says is sold more cheaply in SA than where it is produced. In August 2022, Department of Trade, Industry & Competition (DTI&C) Minister, Ebrahim Patel, postponed the imposition of antidumping duties for a year amid concerns that additional tariffs would affect low-income consumers’ ability to buy protein as food prices skyrocketed. Chicken is an important protein source in the diet of the majority of South Africans. On Thursday, Patel gazetted a notice to reintroduce the tariffs. The DTI&C warned the poultry industry not to automatically put up prices of locally produced chicken if the prices of imported chicken pieces rose. Chicken importer Fred Hume commented: “Ultimately, consumers are the ones who will now pay the literal price of higher duties. The net result is likely to be perennial shortages of supply of South Africans’ favourite chicken cuts, as we have already seen with chicken wings and leg quarters.” FairPlay, an NGO funded by the local chicken industry, has welcomed the reintroduction of tariffs.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Katharine Child at BusinessLive (subscriber access only)
- Read too, Consumers warned to brace for chicken price hikes as anti-dumping duties set to kick in, at Fin24
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page