Bird flu leads to price hike
RCL Foods and Quantum Foods have become the latest major poultry producers to report cases of bird flu, the effect of which is beginning to play out in higher meat prices as producers cull birds to contain the spread of the disease.
RCL Foods, owner of Rainbow Chicken, said it culled flocks on at least two of its farms in the Western Cape and Gauteng, representing 5% of its breed stocks, at a cost of R26-million.
Quantum Foods is also reeling from the outbreak, which hit two of its Western Cape commercial layer farms.
Quantum Foods and RCL joined Sovereign Foods and Astral Foods, which recently reported similar cases, pointing to a growing challenge that is now found in most provinces in SA, although still isolated.
“AI [avian influenza] has been spreading across SA, with over 50 reported cases since June 2017. AI is not known to affect humans, so there is no concern from a chicken consumption persp RCL Foods said.
Exports of raw meat, eggs and live birds from SA to some trade partners have been disrupted as a result, according to the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.
At least 3 million birds have either been culled or have died since the strain was detected in June, according to Agbiz agricultural economist Wandile Sihlobo, who linked the rise in meat price inflation to the outbreak.
Meat price inflation rose to an annual rate of 15% in August, from 14.4% in July, according to Statistics SA data. Sihlobo said cattle restocking added to the uptick in meat inflation. — BDLive