Chicken production cost now R2/kg above selling price due to load shedding, says Astral

SA’s largest poultry producer Astral Foods warned on Wednesday that its half-year profit could plunge by up to 90% as it wasn’t able to hike chicken prices to cover soaring feed and load shedding costs.

The JSE-listed group said that the cost of producing a chicken now exceeds the selling price by R2 per kilogram.

The group is also putting on hold a large part of its R737 million capital expenditure plans.