With almost all of South Africa’s neighbouring countries – except Lesotho – suspending imports of all live poultry and poultry products from the country due to the outbreak of a highly infectious strain of avian influenza (H5N8), the industry is left wondering what the long-term effects will be.
The countries who have banned poultry imports from SA (Mozambique, Namibia, Zambia, Botswana and Zimbabwe) are some of South Africa’s main destinations for exports, sparking concern in the sector. This follows the difficulties faced in the poultry industry recently, including brown meat dumping from the European Union, the closing down of several large production plants and the subsequent job losses associated with this.
However, there is no need to panic says the CEO of South African Poultry Association (Sapa), Kevin Lovell.
He told FTW Online that South Africa’s poultry exports made up only about 3.7% of all production in the country. He said that with the outbreak occurring halfway through the year, the annual impact on exports would be somewhat less.
Lovell added that most countries to which SA exported poultry accepted the compartment system that South Africa used during an outbreak. This meant that there would only be a short period of export disruption to these regions (about a month), although this could be longer (up to six months) in countries that do not.
He observed that there were currently no significant losses in production and that the temporary suspension of imports had resulted in larger availability in the local market.
“Nevertheless, there is no ban on cooked poultry due to the heat treatment process used on products,” Lovell pointed out. “Which is how the ostrich industry was able to continue, following a devastating outbreak of bird flu (H5N2) in 2011.”
