NOWHERE, in David Wolpert’s letter (“Agoa has been a big success in SA”, Business Report, March 11) does he refute any of the points I raised regarding the dumping of poultry into South Africa and the harmful effect it has on the local industry and the 130 000 people who depend on it for their jobs.
We agree that Agoa is certainly beneficial for South Africa and that we must do all we can to make sure that it is renewed, which is why we have been actively involved in trying to resolve the “poultry issue”, and even if in so doing, we suffer some harm. But the question is whether we do so at the point of a barrel of a gun being pointed at us to allow poultry dumping to take place in our market (which would greatly benefit Wolpert and his importers) because of the influence of the powerful US poultry industry to do exactly that.
As for the oft-repeated comments on brining, as Wolpert well knows, brining is an international practice – even in the US – and the mythical 40 percent that he blithely trots out time after time, hoping that repetition of a lie will make it true, is simply rubbish. Kilo for kilo, brined frozen chicken is still cheaper at the meat level (that which you eat), than fresh chicken, and to cook frozen chicken without it having been brined will render it stringy and tasteless.
Consumers are certainly not duped either; the labelling is clear and unambiguous, and if people did not find brined individually deep frozen chicken tasty and good value for money, they would not buy it in the massive quantities that they do. Brining has worked in the consumers’ favour. The importers’ real concern is that without making considerable financial investments to reprocess the surplus dumped product that they buy, their competitiveness in the marketplace is reduced.
Kevin Lovell
CHIEF EXECUTIVE
The South African Poultry Association