Latest news with #SouthAfricanPoultryAssociation
Eyewitness News
4 days ago
- Business
- Eyewitness News
Expanding list of tax-free food items won't benefit poorer households: Treasury
CAPE TOWN - The Treasury doesn't believe that expanding the basket of tax-free food items will have the desired effect of lowering living costs for poorer households. It said that past experience has shown it would benefit retailers instead. Along with retracting a proposed value-added tax (VAT) increase in the third version of this year's national budget, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana announced last week that the Treasury would also no longer be adding more items to the essential list of 21. During public hearings on the budget this week, the South African Poultry Association and dairy manufacturer, Clover SA, appealed to Parliament for chicken and dairy liquid blends to be zero-rated to ward off malnutrition, and to offset the impact of the impending fuel levy increase next week. ALSO READ: But Treasury's taxation head, Chris Axelson, said on Friday that zero-rating was viewed as a "blunt instrument". He said that when the basket was last expanded in 2019, retailers only dropped prices between seven and eight percent and not by the standard VAT rate of 15%. "So the R5 billion that government is losing, about half of that is going to lower-income households, and the benefit of lower prices, and the other half is going either to retailers or the distributors." Axelson said that Treasury believes the current list of zero-rated items was well-targeted to spare poorer households. "If there is no VAT rate increase, we don't believe it is the best course of action to continue with that zero-rating." Axelson pointed out that agricultural producers stood to gain from a diesel rebate to mitigate against increased food prices as a result of the fuel levy hike.
Eyewitness News
6 days ago
- Business
- Eyewitness News
Food industry makes appeal for Godongwana to retract decision not to expand zero-rated food basket
CAPE TOWN - An appeal has been made by the food industry for Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana to retract his decision not to expand the zero-rated food basket, on the grounds of growing malnutrition and food insecurity in the country. When he tabled a revised budget last week, Godongwana reversed the decision to exempt items such as chicken, offal, and dairy liquid blends from value-added tax (VAT), after ditching plans to hike the standard VAT rate. The South African Poultry Association and major dairy producer Clover SA have argued in Parliament on Wednesday that the revenue generated from taxing these items is negligible in the greater context of the national budget. Parliament's finance committees are on Wednesday receiving public input on the fiscal framework, which underpins the budget and the money bills. The poultry association's chief executive officer, Izaak Breitenbach, said excluding chicken portions and offal from the tax-free basket should be reconsidered as a matter of health. 'The increase in consumption of chicken should increase the ability of South Africans to reach daily protein targets, preventing stunting and growing malnutrition, especially in our children.' Clover's business unit head, Jani Menikou, has also argued that dairy liquid blends are crucial for poorer households and to prevent stunted growth in children. 'While the VAT rate was not increased, the burden on the vulnerable household remains unchanged. Dairy liquid blends were designed specifically to support these families, and it's still unfairly taxed.' The organisations have appealed to Parliament to put people before policy by expanding the zero-rated food basket of 21 items, which has remained unchanged since 2018.
IOL News
27-05-2025
- Business
- IOL News
Quantum Foods adapts strategy amid high risk of avian influenze outbreak in South Africa
The South African Poultry Association warns there is a high risk of a High Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) outbreak in South Africa, given the outbreaks in many other parts of the world. Image: Supplied Quantum Foods said the risk of a highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) outbreak in South Africa is high, given outbreaks in many other parts of the world, and the group has adapted its strategy to lessen its risk to the disease. The JSE-listed diversified feed, poultry, and egg business operating in South Africa, Zambia, Uganda, and Mozambique said on Friday it is placing less of its layer hens in areas that have a higher risk of HPAI, and is sourcing hatching eggs from geographically diverse breeder farms due to the escalating risks of an HPAI outbreak. 'The risk of an HPAI outbreak is regarded as very high for the remainder of the 2025 financial year, with an increased number of outbreaks reported in recent months in the US, Europe, North Africa, and West Africa,' CEO Adel van der Merwe and chairman Andre Hanekom said in the interim results for the six months to March 31, which were released on Friday. The directors said that stringent protocols for voluntary vaccination against HPAI that have been published by the South African government are prohibitive and, to the best of their knowledge, no producers have been successful in their applications to vaccinate poultry. 'In the absence of vaccination, HPAI will remain a key risk factor that will continue to affect poultry businesses going forward, resulting in major uncertainty for the poultry industry, which could severely impact earnings,' Van der Merwe and Hanekom said. They said that total egg production in South Africa is steadily increasing as the national flock recovers from the outbreaks of HPAI in 2023 and 2024. The South African Poultry Association has forecast national egg production to be at pre-2023 HPAI outbreak levels by mid-2025, in the absence of any new HPAI outbreaks. 'Egg selling prices decreased towards the end of the reporting period and are expected to decrease further in the second half of the year to September 30, 2025,' Van der Merwe and Hanekom said. They noted that trading conditions for the company had improved significantly in the six months, although this was compared to the same period a year before, when an outbreak of HPAI had impacted the company's birds to the value of about R37 million. The HPAI outbreaks in 2023 and 2024 not only negatively affected earnings in the previous reporting period, but it also resulted in reduced volumes of livestock, hatching eggs, and table eggs, as well as significant cleaning and disinfecting costs to prepare affected farms for future placement. Additionally, there were a number of loadshedding hours in the previous period. The reduction in load shedding hours in the six months under review resulted in lower generator fuel costs and fewer disruptions in the supply of feed raw material items. On December 26, 2024, a crowd forcibly entered a layer farm and looted about 16% of the layer birds. No injuries to staff occurred, and operations were able to resume soon after the incident. However, the hens looted and the resultant lower egg production, further impacted by a disruption in planned vaccinations, contributed to lower earnings from this business in the reporting period. Notwithstanding this, interim headline earnings per share increased sharply to 74.8 cents, up from 21.7 cents reported in the previous reporting period. No interim dividend was declared. Group revenue increased 19.6% to R3.6 billion, with a 20.1% increase (R560m) in the South African operations' revenue and a 13.8% increase (R31m) in the other African operations' revenue. The animal feeds segment increased by 14.1% (R212m) from the previous reporting period, primarily driven by an 11.3% increase in external volumes sold. The farming segment increased by 15.5% (R137m), mainly due to higher volumes of layer livestock sold. The egg segment increased by 52.4% (R212 m), with the 14.1% average egg selling price decrease being offset by the increase in sales volumes of 78.4%. Revenue from the other African operations increased, primarily due to the increased volumes of eggs sold at higher selling prices in Zambia and increased volumes of feed sold in both Uganda and Zambia. A positive margin from higher egg volumes, high operational efficiency at egg packing stations, effective cost management, and improved overhead cost recovery outweighed the negative effect of a 14.1% decline in average egg selling prices. Visit:
The Citizen
24-05-2025
- Business
- The Citizen
No chicken shortage expected as SA bans imports from Brazil
The Department of Agriculture has banned all fresh and frozen chicken imports from Brazil following an outbreak of avian influenza in that country, according to South African Poultry Association (SAPA) general manager Izaak Breitenbach. The ban on chicken imports from Brazil is not expected to lead to a shortage of chicken meat in South Africa. 'Brazil does not have a compartmentalisation agreement with South Africa, which would have allowed imports from unaffected regions, so no chicken imports are allowed from anywhere in that country,' Breitenbach told Farmer's Weekly. Cooked or heat-treated chicken will also not be allowed to be imported from Brazil due to the potential threat it poses to the local industry. Despite this, Breitenbach said the ban would not negatively affect South African chicken supplies or prices. 'South African producers should be able to make up for the shortfall, as we are entering a time of lower demand,' he said. He pointed out that South Africa produces more than 80% of the chicken consumed locally. 'Brazil supplies most of our chicken imports, equating to about 18% of local production, but only 4.5% of these imports comprise bone-in chicken portions, such as leg quarters, drumsticks and wings,' Breitenbach said. Processed meat may be hit More than 60% of the chicken imported from Brazil consisted of mechanically deboned meat used in processed products such as polonies and sausages. Breitenbach said a shortage of these products, which are categorised as 'red meats' and not chicken, could occur. Avian influenza is currently disrupting trade in various countries, but Breitenbach noted that South African outbreaks traditionally occur in spring, when wild birds migrate from Europe and other parts of the world. These birds are routinely tested to identify potential outbreaks, and none have tested positive for the disease so far this year. South Africa has not experienced an outbreak in 2024, but suffered major losses in 2023, when over 9.6 million birds were culled. The industry reportedly incurred direct losses of more than R9.5b during the outbreak. Prices for poultry meat and eggs soared, with egg prices increasing by over 30%. Breitenbach said SAPA had met with Minister John Steenhuisen of the Department of Agriculture to address biosecurity and monitoring protocols that prevent farmers from vaccinating birds against avian influenza, as culling infected birds is not an effective control measure. 'Minister Steenhuisen has escalated our concerns in the department to enable vaccination. However, even if we start vaccinating today, it will not be soon enough to protect the birds against a possible outbreak in spring, as all the long-life birds, which are typically kept for about a year, would need to be vaccinated.' Read original story on At Caxton, we employ humans to generate daily fresh news, not AI intervention. Happy reading!
IOL News
23-05-2025
- Business
- IOL News
No chicken shortage on the horizon for SA despite global bird flu concerns
There will be no chicken shortage in South Africa, assures SAPA. Despite global disruptions in the poultry industry caused by outbreaks of avian influenza, a shortage of chicken in South Africa remains highly unlikely. This is according to the South African Poultry Association (SAPA), which has confirmed that local producers have sufficient capacity to handle any potential shortfall resulting from restrictions on chicken imports, particularly from Brazil. South Africa's domestic poultry sector – a R65 billion industry and the country's largest agricultural employer with nearly 58,000 jobs – currently slaughters around 21.5 million chickens per week. According to SAPA's Broiler Organisation CEO, Izaak Breitenbach, the industry has already increased its capacity to process up to 22.5 million birds weekly, leaving room to scale up in the event of rising demand or reduced imports. 'As the winter months are a period of lower demand for chicken, the additional supply should be sufficient to ensure there are no shortages of chicken meat, or price increases, because of shortages,' said Breitenbach.
