SA’s biggest chicken producer Astral warns of earnings crash
The twin calamity of higher input costs and load shedding, which could not pass on to consumers, is coming home to roost for SA’s chicken industry. Astral Foods, SA’s largest producer, says its headline earnings could fall by up to 92%, having said in January it expected “no more” than a 90% decline. But while conditions had never been tougher, chicken production and the egg business are extremely cyclical, and things can change overnight.