February 24, 2022

 

South African poultry sector makes improvements to alleviate domestic issues

 

 

The South African Poultry Association (SAPA) said it has made improvements to alleviate issues in the domestic poultry sector, such as chicken dumping, illegal imports, avian influenza, and lockdowns related to the pandemic, Engineering News reported.

 

Aziz Sulliman, SAPA chairperson, said the material investments made to boost the sector's processing capacity and the construction and expansion of poultry houses are returning positive results.

 

He said last year ended a good note, with provisional dumping duties imposed against Brazil, Ireland, Spain, and Denmark.

 

Sulliman said import volumes of bone-in meat are projected to drop, and the poultry sector may take up market share in line with the SAFA's poultry industry masterplan.

 

In line with this poultry masterplan, the industry invested ZAR 1.1 billion (~US$72 million; ZAR 10 = US$0.66) towards expanded production focused on black contract farmers, and a further ZAR 400 million (~US$26 million) investment throughout 2022.

 

Sulliman said contract growing is a positive transformation in the sector, because the guaranteed market access and co-management model results in few contract growing operations failing.

 

He said the industry will directly employ 52,030 workers by the end of this year.

 

Prior to the SAFA masterplan, the sector's slaughter capacity was 19 million birds weekly. It has now increased to 22.5 million birds weekly thanks to a ZAR 1.14 billion (~US$74 million) investment from the industry.

 

The industry has also provided ZAR 343 million in finance for black farmers, which will increase to ZAR 466 million in 2022. ZAR 570 million will also be invested in construction more poultry houses.

 

Sulliman said poultry exports are the priority this year, aiming for the country to be export-ready by the end of 2022.

 

He estimated the economic value of the broiler industry to reach ZAR 6.5 billion by end-2022 in terms of its contribution to the gross domestic product.

SAFA has invested in training and development of farmers, focusing on disease identification, management training, as well as financial training.

 

-      Engineering News