Chicken Industry

Rainbow will soon go it alone

The RCL results statement said the plan to carve out Rainbow as an independent business “remains in progress”.

“The Group remains fully committed to its plans for a full separation of the Rainbow business and has taken significant steps to prepare it for independent operation when ready,” RCL said.

“Rainbow continues to focus on its turnaround strategy which includes improving agricultural performance, driving cost efficiencies and doubling volumes in Hammarsdale to drive economies of scale.”

In an interview published in the Sunday Tribune, Rainbow MD Marthinus Stander said Rainbow used to produce 1.2 million chickens per week before production was halved by the 2017 Hammarsdale closure.

By April this year production was back to 1.1 million birds per week and “our next goal is 1.5 million” Stander said.

He also noted that the re-opened Hammarsdale plant was re-employing a number of the workers retrenched in 2017, and that this was a stimulus for the Hammarsdale community.