South Africa’s poultry industry has backed the Department of Agriculture’s decision not to impose a countrywide ban on Brazilian poultry imports, after Brazil reported a Newcastle disease (NCD) outbreak in the southern state of Santa Catarina. The department’s approach, confirmed in a statement on 28 October, restricts only consignments linked to affected premises rather than cutting off trade with Brazil as a whole, an approach the local industry says should leave import volumes and prices largely unaffected.
What triggered the restriction
Brazil notified South African authorities of the initial Newcastle disease case on 20 October, and the situation escalated as Brazilian authorities subsequently confirmed a third outbreak at a farm in Nova Erechim, also in Santa Catarina, on 27 October. Rather than suspending trade with Brazil entirely, as several other importing countries including Mexico have done, South Africa’s Department of Agriculture opted for conditions tied to the specific premises and zones affected. The Poultry Site reported a third outbreak in Santa Catarina.
Under the department’s rules, fresh poultry meat may still be imported provided it comes from premises with no Newcastle disease cases in the previous six months and located outside a 10 kilometre radius of any confirmed case, with processing restricted to abattoirs and cutting plants outside an infected zone. Hatching eggs and day-old chicks face a stricter 12-month disease-free requirement for their originating farms and facilities. The department has asked Brazil’s veterinary authorities to certify that consignments bound for South Africa meet these conditions. The decision to limit restrictions to affected premises rather than impose a blanket ban was also reported by The Poultry Site and Engineering News.
Industry says the threat is manageable
Izaak Breitenbach, chief executive of the South African Poultry Association’s Broiler Organisation, said the risk to South Africa is low provided Santa Catarina remains unable to export here and Brazil adheres to the agreed certification process. “Only Santa Catarina is banned from exporting to South Africa,” he said, adding that the industry believes the existing certification requirements adequately protect the local flock and that SAPA has not asked for additional safeguards beyond what is already in place.
South Africa imports roughly 18,000 tonnes of Brazilian poultry meat a month, according to Breitenbach, though he said he could not provide a breakdown of how much of that typically originates specifically from Santa Catarina. Local producers are not expected to be materially affected either way, since South African breeders do not import hatching eggs or day-old chicks from Brazil and Breitenbach said there are sufficient breeder hens in the country to sustain normal production regardless of the restriction’s outcome.
Vaccination and a bigger worry on the horizon
Breitenbach noted that South African producers vaccinate all broiler chickens and longer-living birds against Newcastle disease, which adds a further layer of protection on the local side even if imported product were somehow affected. He was more cautious about a different risk entirely: “Our big concern is bird flu,” he said, signalling that avian influenza, not Newcastle disease, remains the scenario the industry sees as most likely to force tighter import restrictions in future.
Why it matters for business
Brazil supplies at least 70 per cent of South Africa’s poultry imports, and the country imports about a fifth of its annual poultry consumption overall, making Brazilian supply lines materially important to processors, retailers and the mechanically deboned meat used in products such as polony and sausages. A blanket ban, of the kind some other countries imposed following the outbreak, would have squeezed supply and likely pushed up prices for South African buyers of imported chicken and poultry-based processed meat. By containing the restriction to specific premises and zones, the department’s approach limits disruption to importers, cold-chain logistics operators and food manufacturers that depend on a steady, affordable supply of poultry inputs, while still aiming to keep the local flock protected from the disease. Our report on Astral Foods expecting its 2026 earnings per share to almost double shows how local producers are faring, and our guide to investing in agro-processing covers the incentives and risks behind the sector.
What we could not confirm
- The exact volume of South Africa’s Brazilian poultry imports that originates specifically from Santa Catarina state could not be confirmed; SAPA itself said it did not have this figure.
- Whether any South African consignments have been rejected or delayed under the new certification requirements since 28 October was not confirmed.
- A direct statement from South Africa’s Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development beyond its 28 October announcement could not be independently retrieved.
