21 April 2022
# The predicted increase in chicken prices will hit cash-strapped consumers hard and the government should waste no time intervening. This is the call from the South African Informal Traders Alliance which represents over two million informal and micro-businesses across South Africa. It wants the government to remove tariff taxes and VAT on chicken products to provide relief to informal traders and consumers. The organisation’s Thusi Jackals says consumers are already bearing the brunt of fuel, electricity, and food price increases.
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Jackals says chicken is often the only meat available to low-income households:
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The South African Association of Meat Importers and Exporters agrees and says removing VAT as well as trade tariffs on all poultry products is a quick win. CEO Paul Matthew says they also want a 3-year moratorium on any new tariffs:
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The price of chicken has increased by 10 percent every year for the past 10 years.
Matthew says the government’s recent interventions to help consumers show that it can be done:
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