South Africa Ambassador Mninwa Mahlangu visited Delaware last week for a private tour of the state’s processing plants and research labs. His visit was the first since the United States reached a deal after years of negotiation on poultry trade with South Africa.
“I wanted to come here as early as last year when we were still negotiating to come and see the facility but also see what we can do for the people here and the people in South Africa and to be also a professional trader in terms of poultry,” Ambassador Mahlangu said. Senator Chris Coons (D-DE), who was instrumental in the negotiations with South Africa, joined the Ambassador in touring the University of Delaware’s Lasher Lab, which monitors and tests for potential poultry disease in Georgetown, Delaware. It was reported that the Ambassador was very pleased with the laboratory facility.
According to Senator Coons, 300 metric tons of poultry have been shipped to South Africa so far this year. “Our ultimate goal is to ship about 65,000 metric tons of U.S. produced poultry into South Africa per year going forward,” Coons said. The poultry industry supports more than 14,000 jobs in Delaware.
