South Africa has seen a decrease in all meat imports, according to the Association of Meat Importers & Exporters (Amie).Paul Matthew, the CEO of Amie, told Freight News that imports were down 4% year-on-year (May 2021 to April 2022), but added: “It is important to keep in mind that outbreaks of African swine fever in the EU and avian inf luenza (the HPAI virus) in both the EU and the US had an impact on our trade.”He said poultry, excluding mechanically deboned meat (MDM), was down by 6% during the same period.South African beef imports decreased by 9%, while a monthly average of 3 519mt were imported – some 14% came from Australia, 13% from the US and another 13% from Argentina.“Beef imports in April were at 3 068mt, 19% up from the previous month,” said Matthew.Pork imports, however, were down by 25% from March to April at 4 433mt. An average of 3 452mt was imported per month between May last year and April this year. During the same period, an average of 152mt of lamb was imported monthly, 18 541mt of chicken and 16 236 of MDM. For other meats such as ostrich, turkey and duck, the average amount imported was 1 890mt.According to Matthew, the biggest challenge for importers remains the ability to move product into cold stores quickly. “The off loading of vessels and getting containers released into the cold stores is challenging at times.”Another concern is ships bypassing the Port of Durban. “Vessels are not berthing in Durban but are opting to off load at the Eastern Cape ports. We have stringent sanitary and phytosanitary regulations controlled by the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development, and these kinds of incidents can have dire consequences.”He said inefficiencies at the port resulted in additional costs for Amie members, including demurrage. Asked about the impact of the f loods on the Port of Durban, Matthew said port infrastructure had been badly damaged and it would take a long time to get operations back to where they were. The lack of infrastructure at ports also put the cold chain at risk as it increased delays.“Meat importers need a combination of factors to move their products efficiently, without putting the cold chain at risk. This includes having an efficient port, efficient state veterinarians and excellent electronic administration systems.”He said another challenge had been the increase of tariffs and duties for meat products, particularly poultry.“The problem of the duties/tariffs that we have seen increasing over the last two years is that consumers bear the burden of the government’s excessive protection of the local poultry industry. “One must ask why governments around the world are cutting tariffs on essential food products, like poultry, as a way of curbing food inf lation and ensuring that consumers are able to afford basic foods, when we in South Africa do the opposite – apply more duties to protect local industry, which should rather be exporting poultry overseas.”
