The Association of Meat Importers and Exporters (AMIE) and the South African Meat Processors Association (Sampa) have both welcomed government’s partial lifting of the ban on poultry and poultry product imports from Brazil, effective June 19.

The decision, which was announced by the Department of Agriculture (DoA) on June 18, allows the resumption of imports from all Brazilian states except Rio Grande do Sul, which is reportedly the only state affected by avian influenza.

According to Sampa, the import ban lift will avert significant shortages of affordable protein such as polony, viennas and bangers on South African shelves, given that Brazil is a major supplier of mechanically deboned chicken meat to South Africa.

“We are grateful for the urgency displayed by the DoA and especially Agriculture Minister John Steenhuisen and deputy director-general Dipeneneng Serage in averting the full-scale social and humanitarian crisis which the ban imposed on May 16 threatened to unleash,” Sampa states.

In turn, the AMIE lauds government for having chosen a practical, regionalised approach to imports from Brazil to help stabilise the poultry market and safeguard food security for South African consumers.

The AMIE is urging government to finalise the health certificate agreement with Brazil that provides for a regional approach to future disease outbreaks.

“This agreement is crucial to ensure that future trade disruptions are limited only to affected regions, rather than resulting in blanket national bans.”

The AMIE acknowledges that Brazilian authorities have already submitted the proposed certificate to the DoA and, therefore, calls on both governments to conclude this process without delay.

The association also wishes for government to accelerate the reopening of other key poultry import markets, including France, the Netherlands, Belgium and Denmark, which remain closed to South Africa despite their successful containment of earlier avian influenza outbreaks, as declared to the World Organisation for Animal Health.

The AMIE believes a diversified poultry supply base is essential to building resilience in South Africa’s food system.