November 11, 2019

Master plan to restructure poultry industry signed at South Africa Investment Conference

The plan was signed at the second South Africa Investment Conference in Johannesburg last week following year-long negotiations, Business Report reported.

Earlier this year, the poultry industry committed an investment of R1.5 billion (~US$0.1 billion; R1 = US$0.067) towards the objectives of the plan.

The Department of Trade and Industry (dti) said it make an official announcement soon.

According to the dti spokesperson, Sidwell Medupe, the department was ironing out the final touches of the plan, but wanted to make the announcement at the Investment Conference.

"We have not even drafted a statement about the implementation of the master plan… we will call a media briefing with all stakeholders soon to make an official announcement," Medupe said.

According to industry spokespeople, the master plan's objectives with targets to be met by 2023 include the expansion of local industry capacity and ensuring that locally-produced product gradually makes up a growing proportion of consumption.

Specifically, the plan calls for establishing partnerships to increase production and availability of feed while ensuring that workers are provided with training and development opportunities. It also calls for driving domestic demand and the affordability of local broiler products, the establishment of safety and veterinary requirements within markets, and offering producers export opportunities to begin by the end of March 2020.

The South African chicken industry has been dealt with several challenges in recent years, including feed costs, export barriers and 'dumping' of chicken imports from Brazil, the European Union and the United States.

Said chief executive of the Association of Meat Importers and Exporters (AMIE), Paul Matthew: "The objectives of the plan hinge on increasing local chicken consumption and so growing the demand for chicken, while also addressing the exporting of locally-produced cooked and raw chicken products.

Target markets will include SADC (South Africa Development Community) countries and those within the African Continental Free Trade Area and the Middle East. Gearing up locally will also open European markets."