IMTA CEO discusses South Africa reopening for British poultry meat exports

The UK has been locked out of the South African market for many years following a countrywide ban imposed due to avian influenza.

Over this time, the International Meat Trade Association (IMTA) and other industry organisations have consistently called for the UK Government to do more to reopen this crucial market.

When meeting with UK ministers this was always a market we emphasised was a priority for our exporting members.

We very much welcome the recent news of the lifting of the ban on (uncooked) UK poultrymeat exports​​.

IMTA has written to Defra Minister Daniel Zeichner to highlight the efforts of the Defra Market Access team and UK agrifood counsellor for the region who have worked extremely hard to make this happen. It will be essential that they continue to have the resource and support going forward to further strengthen relationships with the South African authorities as well as work on other important markets. We are very grateful that those same officials provided a superb Q&A session for our members in the immediate days after the ban was lifted.

South Africa’s poultry market

In South Africa in 2023, the domestic poultrymeat sector was hit by avian influenza but has been rebuilding its strength over the last year. According to USDA’s South Africa embassy, post chicken meat production is forecast to increase by 3% to 1.65m tons in 2025 as a result of this strengthening domestic sector. It also forecasts that consumption will rise by 2% to 1.88m tons in 2025, following slightly improved consumer spending power and reduced food inflation – something which is being seen across the whole food basket.

IMTA always advocates within a UK context that we need both robust domestic production and access to dependable sources of imported supply and export markets. Looking at the USDA’s latest report from September, it is clear that imports provide an important supply of MDM (mechanically deboned meat) to South Africa.

As the report flags, this accounted for 56% of total poultrymeat imports in 2024 and, furthermore, is not produced in substantive quantities domestically. This supports the idea that imports provide a complementary role in supply within a South African context.

Owing to growth in domestic production and lessened competitiveness of imports (resulting from high tariffs and anti-dumping duties applied to major exporters of poultry to South Africa), USDA predicts a fall in overall poultrymeat imports by 6% in 2025 down to 300,000 tons. Brazil is still the largest supplier of chicken meat to South Africa, but it is welcome news that the UK will once again be able to provide an alternative option for poultrymeat imports to the market.

The USDA embassy post also reported on South Africa’s ‘Poultry Master Plan Strategy’, which is looking at increasing its exports in the future, potentially including production of canned chicken for exports to the EU market.

Future focus

As with any market, imports and exports are part and parcel of UK food security. From a UK food security standpoint, IMTA is concerned that the new UK Government has not demonstrated an appreciation yet of the importance of two-way trade for the meat sector as part of the government’s priority of ‘food security’.

We understand that in addition to the recent industrial strategy announcements which, bizarrely, seem to largely forget about the UK food industry, there will also be a trade strategy developed. UK agri-food trade is a core aspect of UK trade; notably, it is always a key topic for any free trade agreement negotiation and so it will be fundamental that this is carefully considered within such a trade strategy.

The opening of the South African market for poultrymeat demonstrates the importance of the newly established agri-attaché network and we hope to see that go from strength to strength in supporting UK exports going forward.

Fostering long-term, strong relationships with key markets are essential for UK exports but also food security and the UK agri-attaché network should also have an eye on key sources of imports into the UK market.

On exports we will need to see ministers consistently visiting key target and existing supplying markets for UK exports as part of long-term relationship building. It has only been a fairly recent phenomenon that the UK has had an Agri-attaché network, whereas countries such as Denmark, Ireland, New Zealand and beyond have a well-established network over many years.

These networks foster good links with their domestic industries as well as overseas contacts, and this is key in ensuring they have the knowledge and detail of the sectors that they represent.

We are also still waiting to hear about whether the UK’s Food & Drink Export Council will continue under the new Government. This was a helpful vehicle for cross-government and industry collaboration with regard to exports. This is crucial to ensuring that all policy levers can be called upon in order to move export trade barriers forward.

In other news, EIT has revealed the winners of its food technology accelerator programme, which saw 17 companies taking away a share of €500k.​​