Chicken prices | Consumers can expect further hikes

Astral has been absorbing the bulk of the input costs over the past six months, which it says is not sustainable.

JOHANNESBURG - Chicken prices are going to rise further.

That’s the warning from the country’s biggest poultry producer, Astral Foods, as it battles to contain high input costs, including feed and energy.

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The company says it will have to inject R200-million into alternative energy and water storage resources.

This as rolling blackouts and water shortages affect its operations.

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Astral has been absorbing the bulk of the input costs over the past six months, which it says is not sustainable.

The company’s CEO Chris Schutte says although full-year profit came 126 percent higher than the prior year, prolonged power cuts and dilapidated municipal infrastructure is painting a worrying outlook.

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