Poultry news | One step closer to exports

The SA poultry industry’s journey to develop and grow exports markets is a mammoth task. Charmain Lines looks at how a recent trip to Dubai helped in the eating of this elephant

Compiled by Charmain Lines

The Middle East presents a significant high-growth opportunity for South African poultry products,” says Dr Charlene Bailey. As Rainbow’s export manager, she contributed to South Africa’s presence at the 2026 edition of Gulfood, the world’s biggest food and beverage trade show, and also met with Dubai Chambers and the SA Consulate-General in Dubai.

The Department of Agriculture, in the person of Minister Steenhuisen’s special advisor Johannes Mashaba, officially represented South Africa at Gulfood, while Rainbow, Astral and CBH represented the local poultry industry. “All the clients we engaged with at Gulfood consistently highlighted South African poultry as a premium-quality product,” says Bailey. “The region seems very open to partnering with South Africa.”

Rainbow’s objectives for the Dubai trip were to gather market intelligence, particularly regarding regulatory changes that may affect trade; build relationships with distributors, wholesalers and food-service buyers, as well as with government officials who shape market-access conditions; and, finally, to benchmark performance against leading global competitors.

More than 8 500 exhibitors from 195 countries were showcased at Gulfood.

The market-access discussions were the focus of the meetings that Bailey and Daniel Terblanche from Astral had at Dubai Chambers and the SA Consulate.

Dubai Chambers is a non-profit, semigovernmental organisation whose role is to strengthen the emirate’s position as a global centre for business, trade and investment. Discussions with some of its members revealed a strong willingness to do business with South Africa, notes Bailey. “Their primary requirements are that South African companies establish a local presence in Dubai (typically one or two employees) and that suppliers provide larger product volumes than what South African businesses are traditionally inclined to offer.”

At the Consulate, the industry delegation met with Ndhuma Baloyi and Mpho Sekgala, political and agriculture consuls respectively. “The two officials assured us of their renewed focus on supporting South African agricultural companies operating in Dubai and the Northern Emirates,” says Bailey.

Next steps

Provided calm returns to the region soon, Bailey will be off to the Middle East again in May this year. This time it will be as part of a delegation led by the Minister of Agriculture and meeting with stakeholders in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

Bailey says that the poultry-industry representatives will focus on unlocking market access and addressing the barriers that currently restrict entry into the region. To do this, they plan to engage directly with key government authorities, import regulators and major buyers in the Middle East to achieve the following:

Position South African poultry as a reliable, high-quality, halal-compliant protein source, produced by an industry with strong export capabilities.
Address lengthy or unclear approval processes for export establishment registration.
Resolve misalignment between South African and Middle Eastern veterinary protocols and halal standards.
Tackle market-access constraints resulting from past disease outbreaks, including bans relating to avian influenza.
Assure Saudi authorities that South Africa is fully prepared for an audit of its poultry facilities.
Inform the Middle Eastern partners that the UK has successfully completed its country audits of South African poultry facilities.
Highlight that South Africa already meets EU-required VPN and protocol standards.

“The fact that we’ll have the minister by our side gives us a unique opportunity to resolve these challenges through government-to-government dialogue,” says Bailey. “Our industry views this trip as an opportunity to strengthen our collaboration with the DoA to advance South Africa’s agricultural export ambitions.”

And with that the elephant hopefully gets a bit smaller still.

Source: Poultry Bulletin (Issue 31) April/May 2026