JEDDAH, 6 July — The Kingdom’s poultry farmers and French exporters have locked horns in recent weeks due to accusations by local farmers over market flooding.
Farmers have again lashed out at exporters whom they accuse of dumping the local market with subsidized products. They further contend that because of low prices of imported frozen chicken, exports to the Kingdom increased by 26 percent over recent years.
Faqeeh Group, a leading poultry producer, whose chairman, Abdul Rahman Faqeeh, accused French exporters of taking advantage of government subsidies to dump the local market, brought the issue to the light through the local press.
The French government shot back through its trade commissioner in Riyadh, Herve Piquet, describing Faqeeh’s comments as false and defamatory.
Faqeeh has urged the authorities to take immediate steps to prevent what he described as the dumping of subsidized foreign products in the local market by producers from France and Brazil. He said such practices are against the principles set by the World Trade Organization (WTO).
Piquet said local producers supply more than 60 percent of the Saudi market and their share is on the rise, that WTO does not prohibit export subsidies which are used by all 140 members of the organization and that the Kingdom in its accession documents to WTO indicated that local producers receive subsidies or equivalent measures from their government.
In new remarks backed by statistics, charts and purchase invoices, Faqeeh said French chicken costs more to produce than the export price at which they are sold in the Kingdom’s markets. The difference between production and export price is at least SR1.31 per kilogram meaning that for every shipment of 6,200 tons the losses amount to SR8 million. “Who pays the difference of such a huge figure?” Faqeeh asked.
He said their group sent an agent to buy two types of frozen chicken from a local market in the city of Marseille. The result was that the same chicken cost more in the French market than in Saudi Arabia. The price ranged from SR10.41 to SR17.8 per kilogram. “How come the same chicken is sold in the Kingdom for less than SR5? Who pays the difference?” he again asked.
Faqeeh further argued that French poultry companies cut down by 4 to 8 percent the export price of their chicken sold in Yemen and Gulf countries to obstruct the export of Saudi poultry to neighboring countries.
There are 293 poultry projects in the Kingdom of which 16 are considered large farms with their combined annual output amounting to an estimated 600,000 tons.
While asking those who call for globalization to practice what they preach, Faqeeh said French exports to the Kingdom depend heavily on export subsidies.
France relies on the European Union’s common agricultural policy to subsidize its chicken exports. The French government resorts to providing indirect assistance to local producers by facilitating the granting of loans, providing finances for project startups, securing retirement funds and awarding government procurement contracts.
