The Angolan Government made more foreign exchange (forex) injections available in 2017 to combat the high inflation and reduced food availability due to lack of forex since mid-2015. The government allocated more forex resources to the food and medicine sectors ahead of a contentious election held in August. The result of the forex injections is that Angola is now the fourth largest importer country of U.S. poultry and third largest market for U.S. frozen chicken leg quarters, behind Cuba.
Angola relies heavily on imported food, as their farming sector was decimated after the decades long Angolan Civil War that lasted until 2002, according to USDA’s October 4, 2017 GAIN Report. The United States is a vital supplier of poultry to Angola and U.S. exports rose in 2017, due to the declining inflation rate and increased forex auctions. The industry expects that the amount of food imports will continue to grow through the end of year holidays. Poultry imports typically rise in October and November in preparation for Christmas.
The United States is normally Angola’s largest supplier of poultry, with Brazil and Argentina as the second and third largest. Between January and July 2017, Angola was the United States fourth largest market export market for poultry behind Mexico, Hong Kong, and Cuba. Angola is the third biggest U.S. market for frozen chicken leg quarters, next to Hong Kong and Cuba, during the same time period.
