SA's biggest food poultry group Astral has reported an almost 90% crash in interim profits, hit by higher feed costs and the effects of load shedding.
Reporting a crash in its half-year to end March on Monday, SA's biggest chicken producer also warned the country is facing increased threats to its food security and intensifying poverty. In its outlook statement, it said was concerned that"in the lead up to the 2024 national elections a period of instability is expected, as well as both policy uncertainty and poor service delivery from the government".
It also flagged the failure of state-owned enterprises such as Eskom and Transnet as important contributing factors in the deterioration of agricultural sector in SA. As a result, the poultry division swung into a loss of R283 million from a R466 million profit in the same period last year, with Astral adding this was"exacerbated by high feed input costs for the period under review".
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