We eat other's leftovers

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Did you know that the chicken thighs you had for dinner last night could have been "waste" that developed countries shipped to South Africa?

That is not all - polony and vienna sausages in your fridge might be the leftovers of de-boned chickens from the West.

South African Poultry Association CEO Kevin Lovell said 90% of the 370000 tons of chicken imported from Brazil, Argentina, the US and European Union countries last year is considered waste by consumers in those nations .

Lovell said 31000 tons of last year's chicken imports were offal (livers, gizzards and hearts), 162000 tons were leg quarters, 131000 tons were leftovers of deboned meat and 12000 tons were carcasses (thighs and legs).

But don't we have enough chicken capacity to produce for ourselves?

"We have enough, it is just that we have not had the chance to invest in the markets to grow the business enough.

"Because these [imports] are waste, they come in at low prices, much lower than it costs locally," Lovell said, adding that the low cost of the imports were the local poultry industry's biggest hurdle .

"In fact, our whole application [for chicken import tariff hikes] is not designed to punish importers but to make imports cost as much as local products," he said.

The poultry association has launched a legal application to have the tariffs on chicken imports increased by as much as 82%.

The chief commissioner of the International Trade Administration Commission, Siyabonga Tsengiwe, said consumers in the West preferred the white portions of chicken meat for health reasons.

"I would not go to the extent of using that language that [what is left and exported] is waste, it is just consumer preference," he said.

Lovell confirmed that Kentucky Fried Chicken, Nando's and Chicken Licken all use local chickens, and not "waste meat" imports.

The CEO of the Association of Meat Importers and Exporters, David Wolpert, yesterday dismissed the "waste" claims as "absolute nonsense" .

He believed the poultry association was trying to discredit the import industry.

On Tuesday, the Pretoria High Court granted the importers'association access to the information the poultry association has gathered for its case.

The importers' association said it wanted to protect the poor from paying too much for their chicken, which in many cases was their only source of protein .
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Sauce.
 
You want my opinion...???

A very sly and cheap way to fight the imports that comes in at prices our local producers cannot compete with. Make it out as waste so nobody will buy it or be too scared to and thus allow the local producers to charge a premium.


But don't we have enough chicken capacity to produce for ourselves?

"We have enough, it is just that we have not had the chance to invest in the markets to grow the business enough.
Click to expand...

Yeah right... a market with such a demand that tons are imported to satisfy it and the local producers 'just have not had time yet' to invest in this market.....

In fact, our whole application [for chicken import tariff hikes] is not designed to punish importers but to make imports cost as much as local products," he said.
Click to expand...

We are just looking after the local consumer by making sure that nobody sells their chicken cheaper than our inflated prices.... In a way we are fixing prices for our consumers... now who said we don't care....

It may all be true, I know countries love to dump their stuff here and in the rest of Africa but we tend to believe anything and everything just because they say so...

Well in this case the 'THEY" have a lot to lose and are fighting tooth and nail to try and stop these imports as the imports are undercutting their prices by a big margin.....

So in my opinion.... might have some truth but still a sly and cheap shot.

Don't forget our own local producers who were caught washing off 'old' chicken which went past their expiry dates and sending it back into the trade. When caught they said nothing was wrong with it... but now everything is wrong with the imports....
 
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