The South African Poultry Association (Sapa) has welcomed President Cyril Ramaphosa’s announcement that the new Government of National Unity will look to expand the basket of essential food items that are exempt from value added tax (VAT).
The announcement, made during the President’s opening of parliament speech, indicates multi-party support for an initiative that will help to lower food prices for low-income households.
Sapa said the association strongly believed that targeted chicken products should be included in an expanded list of items that are zero-rated for VAT.
“Chicken is South Africa’s most popular and most affordable meat source, accounting for 66% of all meat consumed in the country. It is therefore the main source of meat protein for millions of poor people, including children in poor families,” Sapa said.
The association added that local chicken producers were already doing everything in their power to keep chicken prices down.
“Removing the 15% VAT from the chicken portions, most consumed by poor households, would bring immediate price relief and ensure that essential food items remained affordable,” Sapa said.
The basket of zero-rated food items was last reviewed in 2018, after the VAT rate was raised to 15%. At the time, Sapa proposed to parliament that targeted chicken products should be exempt from VAT because of their importance in the diet of millions of poor people. This included the popular packs of individually quick frozen chicken portions.
