Concentration and competition from global to local: The Southern African poultry industry

The geographic reach of multinational corporations means that mergers and restrictive agreements in one jurisdiction, such as in north America or Europe, may impact on countries around the world. We analyze the role of multinationals in shaping poultry value chains in three countries in Southern Africa—South Africa, Zambia, and Malawi. The article addresses two main questions. First, how have poultry value chains been shaped in the three selected countries by mergers, concentration, and vertical integration? Second, what are the implications of the combination of vertical arrangements and information flows between competitors for market outcomes and competition enforcement in developing countries? We find that merger reviews have been inadequate, failing to consider the increased global concentration which is replicated at regional level in Southern Africa. The combination of vertical integration and horizontal concentration has resulted in constraints on breeding stock supplies observed across the countries studied while prices have increased to very high levels. Competition authorities need to deepen international cooperation along with addressing the complex nature of power along the value chain in order to prevent exclusionary conduct by the dominant multinationals and their local subsidiaries.