The price of meat will remain high going into the festive season due to the increase in fuel and animal feed. The high cost is also attributed to the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Avian influenza outbreak earlier this year, the unrest in July in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng and higher shipment prices.
According to the National Agricultural Marketing Council (NAMC) and the South African Meat Processed Association (SAMPA), the inflated prices are expected to continue into the new year. Thabile Nkunjana, an economist in the agro-food chain unit at NAMC, said meat was seen as a major protein source – with products such as eggs and dairy used as complementary products.
“In South Africa, meat is the third-highest weighted food group after processed and unprocessed foods. For that reason, the meat price trend will always weigh in on the overall food price inflation. For meat, the rise in prices can be linked to a number of factors, both domestically and globally. Meanwhile, Zola Brunner of Chicken Facts said with holidays, and the festive season, the demand for chicken would rise again.
“As we all know, fuel prices are a basic contributor to the cost of doing business. A rise in the fuel price causes a ripple effect through the economy. As a result, ChickenFacts has compiled its own fact sheet to record these price increases. She said ChickenFacts compiled a report for December, just before the festive season.
“It is concerning that poultry prices have risen above inflation for the last 10 years. The main contributor to this price rise is the cost of chicken feed, droughts, avian flu, SA’s recent looting incident, but the prices of fuel and increased tariffs on chicken imports are also a major concern,” she said.
Brunner said as a comparative exercise, ChickenFacts also looked at chicken prices around the world as a percentage of earnings per country.
“The main conclusion from this fact sheet is that the price of chicken and chicken products should be of major concern and that the poultry industry should be investigating ways to open up the industry to new players, address concerns around the shortages of feed, and encourage access to markets for exports.
Source: IOL
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