COMPANY COMMENT
Poultry sector in dark mood over power cuts
While 2017 will see a number of critical legal battles in mining as the industry loses patience with dithering and incompetent department
They say that a week is a long time in politics, but in SA generally, a week is a long time and always has been. Last week, it was reported the share price of Astral Foods, one of the plump birds in the JSE’s poultry sector, jumped more than 10% in the first few trading days of 2017. Alas, a day later, the company put out a statement that epitomises the rot in SA’s economy, saying that Eskom’s planned power cuts to the Lekwa Local Municipality in Mpumalanga would severely affect its operations. Power supply interruptions to the municipality will begin on January 23 as a result of outstanding payments to Eskom. This will interrupt Astral’s operations. There is a risk that Eskom will disconnect the power indefinitely. Astral says its operations in the region provide jobs for 4,115 people. Astral says it will not be able to feed 11.5-million chickens a day if the cuts go ahead. The warning comes as SA’s chicken industry is already aflutter. Producers say imports, mainly from Brazil and...
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Subscribe now to unlock this article.
Support BusinessLIVE’s award-winning journalism for R129 per month (digital access only).
There’s never been a more important time to support independent journalism in SA. Our subscription packages now offer an ad-free experience for readers.
Cancel anytime.
Questions? Email helpdesk@businesslive.co.za or call 0860 52 52 00. Got a subscription voucher? Redeem it now.