Unhappy Christmas for farm workers with rise in chicken import dumping
More than 1,000 KwaZulu-Natal chicken farm face a bleak Christmas due to increased dumping of chicken imports. The import-driven price war led to more than 288,081 tons of chicken brought into the country in the first half of the year. The EU accounts for 45.5% and Brazil 43.2%. Most of the rest are from the US. South Africans eat the most chickens in Africa, but imports have hit local poultry farms hard. RCL Foods, which produces Rainbow, will halve production at its Hammarsdale plant from January. But poultry industry insiders warn that for every 10,000 tons of imports as many as 1,000 jobs may be lost and as many as 6,000 affected across the industry.
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