South Africa’s largest poultry producer, Astral Foods, expects earnings to drop by up to 60% when it reports results for the six months to end March this year.
A trading update by Astral Foods said the decline in profits could be between 50% and 60% lower than the same period last year.
It referred to an earlier update in March this year, in which Astral said selling prices for its chicken products remained under pressure and feed input costs had risen due to higher maize prices.
Astral also warned then that earnings for the first half of this financial year could be up to 60% lower than the “strong set of results” it had reported for the first six months of the 2024 financial year.
The interim results are due to be published on 19 May.
Astral has returned to profitability after suffering the only loss in its history due to the poultry industry’s disastrous year in 2023, when bird flu and national electricity shortages cost poultry producers across the country an estimated R9.5 billion.
