Poultry imports to South Africa rebound

In 2023, poultry imports into South Africa increased after a 4-year decline. Poultry imports (primarily chicken) peaked in 2018 at 566,00 tonnes but have since seen a steady decline down to just 373,000 tonnes in 2022. But, for the first 11 months of 2023, imports were higher than the total for 2022, reports BizCommunity. Reports note that the reasons for the long decline in imports are complex and include widespread outbreaks of bird flu in Europe, the US and Argentina, the Covid pandemic’s disruptions to production, the depreciation of the local currency (rand) and, perhaps to a lesser extent, higher import tariffs. The largest import categories are mechanically deboned meat (62.6% of chicken imports in November) and offal (18.5%). The main source of both is Brazil, which now supplies 80% of South Africa’s chicken imports. BizCommunity highlights the EU, which used to be the biggest supplier until it was hit by bird flu, has slowly recovered to 7%. The US, despite facing bird ...