Economist: SA’s Brazil poultry ban will hurt consumers
An economist has warned that South Africa’s decision to ban Brazilian poultry from the province of Rio Grande do Sul will end up hitting consumers in the pocket.
The ban was imposed in August following an outbreak of Newcastle disease in the province.
In June, Brazil voluntarily halted poultry exports to some countries following the detection of the outbreak.
It is reported that over 7,000 birds died on a chicken farm in the region.
Chief Economist at Econometrix, Azar Jammine, says South Africa is still recovering from the crippling effects of the recent bird flu outbreak.
“South Africa stopping to import poultry from Brazil could create a shortage of poultry in the country in the short term and cause prices of poultry to increase. However, much depends on the extent to which domestic production can increase to take over from the Brazilian product.There is no question that Brazilian products are coming into the country very cheaply, and this is helping to subdue the price of poultry.
“Banning a trade is not very productive from an economic growth point of view, and unfortunately, it’s becoming a global trend, where we are seeing pushback against globalisation. Countries often believe that their domestic production will benefit if they make it more difficult for cheap imports to come in from overseas.”
Jammine believes an increase in trade between African countries would lead to improved economic growth and a dip in the unemployment rate.
“Without a doubt, there would be an enormous boon to African economies if they started increasing trade amongst themselves. At the moment, the intra-African trade amounts to less than 15% of all their trade.”
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