THE gravity of the distress facing SA’s chicken producers was laid bare this week when RCL Foods, SA’s second-biggest chicken company, made the shocking announcement that it is overhauling its poultry operations. RCL Foods, which owns the Rainbow Chicken and Farmhouse brands, said the industry was in a "deeper crisis than ever before", and the company could not continue with the status quo if it were to avoid any further plucking of its profit. "The chicken industry is in an unprecedented crisis … with no relief on the horizon," RCL CEO Miles Dally told investors on Wednesday.
Imports were the biggest threat, RCL said, trumping pressures from new brining laws, stunted local economic growth, and pressures on household income. Unprecedented levels of dumped chicken were being shipped by producers from Brazil and Europe, "who were willing to take whatever price they got", management told investors in a presentation on Wednesday. These producers had turned to SA to find a home for...
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