Country Bird Holdings, SA’s third-largest chicken producer, will close one of its three abattoirs as the local industry struggles to compete with cheap European imports that it argues amount to dumping.
The company would close its facility in Mahikeng, in the North West, in the absence of increased government protection against the imports, Country Bird CEO Marthinus Stander said by phone on Thursday. The company notified employees in 2016 about the planned closure, he said.
South African farmers and unions say the EU is selling chicken legs, thighs and wings at below cost, pushing the local industry to the brink of collapse, and have asked the government to increase protection. The EU has in turn accused SA of unfairly protecting its chicken industry with import duties that mask local producers’ inability to compete in global markets.
The South African Poultry Association (Sapa) told MPs this week that chicken imports should be reduced by at least half, according to a presentation provided by the group’s CEO, Kevin Lovell.
Country Bird ended its listing on the JSE in December 2014.
Bloomberg
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