Poultry producers promise to raise production, not prices

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Poultry producers promise to raise production, not prices

7:28 CAT | 03 Apr 2017

TVM

Mozambican poultry producers on Friday said they are prepared to rise to the challenge of replacing imported chickens with national production.

They were responding to the government’s decision, announced on Thursday, to ban all imports of chicken. The target of the ban is Brazilian chicken, because of the scandal of contaminated meat and poultry uncovered by the Brazilian Federal Police in “Operação Carne Fraca” (“Operation Rotten Meat”). But because Brazilian frozen chickens are sent round the globe and are sometimes repackaged and re-exported as if they come from European countries or from South Africa, the government opted for a ban on all chicken imports.

At a Maputo press conference, representatives of the Mozambican poultry industry, praised the government decision, and said that, while the import ban lasts, they will try to ensure that there is no shortage of chicken, and that there is no speculation or price gouging.

Mario Couto, of Higest, one of the country’s largest poultry concerns, which produces both chickens and chicken feed, said his company alone sells 4,500 tonnes of frozen chicken a year, distributed in all 11 provinces.

Higest last raised its prices in November, and has no intention of raising them again, he said. Indeed, if the price of locally produced maize falls, as seems likely, that will make it possible to reduce the price of chicken feed, and hence the price of chickens.

Suzana Luciano, of the association of incubators, said that the country’s incubators currently have the capacity to produce 60 million chicks a year, which is 200 per cent more than a decade ago. “We have made investments in the incubators”, she said, “and our challenge now is to double production”.

A journalist from Mozambique Television (TVM) pointed out that some retail outlets had increased the price of their chickens to 300 meticais (about 4.5 US dollars) each, on the grounds that the producers had hiked their prices immediately after the ban on imported chickens was announced.

Fatima Mussagy, chairperson of the Maputo association of poultry producers, declared that the retailers are lying, since the producers have kept their price at 180 meticais per chicken (irrespective of weight).

She regarded the ban on imports as an important opportunity for the national poultry industry. “We are prepared to supply good quality chickens and avoid speculation and price rises”, she declared.

It was untrue that producers had raised their prices. This, she said, was just an excuse used by dishonest retailers.

The estimate from the industry is that about 5,800 tonnes of Mozambican chicken (both frozen and live) go to market every month. Mario Couto believed that this can be increased and that it is quite possible to meet the government challenge (issued well before the Thursday ban) of eliminating all dependence on imported poultry within five years.

Source: AIM