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The Association of Meat Importers and Exporters of Southern Africa says the government should speed up the rolling out of emergency measures to curb chicken and egg shortages and price increases.
The association, earlier said a temporary tax rebate on import duties for chicken could help cushion consumers against the rising cost of poultry products amid the current bird flu outbreak.
The association wrote to Trade and Industry Minister Ebrahim Patel, asking for a 12-month rebate on frozen bone-in chicken.
It also wants duties on boneless chicken to be dropped from 42% to 12%.
Meanwhile, the South African Poultry Association (SAPA) says the Industry is on the road to recovery from the recent outbreaks.
To date, 8.5 million chickens have been culled to curb the outbreak, which includes 2.5 million broiler breeder chickens.
SAPA General Manager Izaak Breitenbach says producers are importing 83 million broiler-hatching eggs to replenish flock.
He says they also extended the age of non-affected flocks by an additional 2-3 weeks which will result in additional egg hatching production.
Breitenbach says many poultry farmers have been badly affected by the outbreak and aren't compensated for these losses in line with the Animal Diseases Act.
He did say however that the industry's quick action has softened the worst of the outbreak, getting several mitigating solutions in place to ease the impact on farmers and consumers.
