LIKE THE clothing and textile industries, so go the SA chicken producers. Protection is immediately considered the moment the going gets tough.
Those are the words of Piet de Wet, chairman of the Association of Meat Importers & Exporters (AMIE), speaking about a proposed duty increase to 64% on imported chicken.
Slamming the claims by the SA Poultry Association (SAPA) that chicken imports are killing our own people, De Wet described the reaction of importers as astonishment and fury. The various claims that are being made, he added, are to malign the importers in a market where local chicken prices are now beyond the means of many of the consumers, De Wet reckons.
He enquires what the consumers would say about this plea for protection by local chicken producers where many of these folk are desperate to acquire the meat proteins that are otherwise simply beyond their reach price-wise.
