Francois Baird’s latest missive refers (“Chicken importers require better arguments”, April 25). It is time the curtain came down on the longest-running farce in SA theatre history, as choreographed by Baird and his colleagues.
The plot is simple: without being able to substantiate anything, blame the ills of the local poultry industry on importers, and a protectionist government will likely render tariff assistance — to the detriment of consumers.
All Baird has to offer are slogans: facts are avoided or distorted. According to him, “importers are threatening the very existence of local poultry. Thousands of jobs are at risk. Greedy importers are only interested in fat profits”.
Pure scare tactics, without a shred of proof. Dumping is claimed without any proof of causality or material injury. (And I did not concede that dumping is currently taking place. I said we should await the outcome of the current application). Baird is now even predicting future dumping.
All the proof has come from importers. Most of it can be found in the financials of local poultry’s dominant companies. Just one example: Baird refers to the “damage caused by importers from July 2017 to June 2020”. Yet the financials referred to above loudly cheer the record 2018 financial year — the best in history, despite these evil imports. Clearly Baird is not aware of the contents of his client’s financial statements. More proof of pure sloganeering.
Imports have a 15% market share. I can prove that. Anybody with a gram of common sense knows that little green men in space ships represent a greater threat to the survival of the SA poultry industry than importers. Local poultry has experienced far greater growth over the past 20 years than imports. I can prove that, too.
With regard to the “fat profits” claim, I would like to remind Mr Baird that nearly half of local poultry is controlled by two public companies, and the risk-free earnings of their top executives, as well as their shareholdings and options, are public knowledge. They far exceed anything importers, who risk their own capital, are earning. I would not wish to quote those figures here, but if Baird disputes my claim we can debate these figures publicly.
The only time the two industries met directly in court, the importers won. The only time a local dumping application was referred to the World Trade Organization, the importers won. I wouldn’t bet my house against both Brazil and the EU repeating this route if the investigation is again flawed.
Famous US president Abraham Lincoln once said: “You can fool all the people some of the time and some of the people all the time, but you can’t fool all the people all the time.” It is time to stop trying to fool South Africans that their poultry industry’s future is threatened by a handful of importers.
Like Baird I am not a poultry expert. So I have studied the factually very weak but voluminous dumping application, as well as the available local poultry published financial accounts and reports for the past decade. Perhaps Baird should do the same, then he won’t have to rely on empty slogans and prophecies.
David Wolpert, Rivonia
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