Skip to main content

Government announces measures to curb poultry jobs bloodbath

| Economic factors

The Department of Trade and Industry (the dti) said that it had secured significant progress across a number of work-streams to develop a common response to the complex challenges facing the domestic poultry industry.

Government recently established a poultry sector task team to deal with the crisis in the domestic poultry industry.

The Task Team is comprised of representatives of the dti, the departments of economic development, agriculture, forestry and fisheries, as well as the Industrial Development Corporation.

Also represented is the sector industry association, Poultry South Africa, and representatives of the poultry producers, representing business. Labour is represented by the leadership of the Food and Allied Workers Union (Fawu).

South African chicken producers, including Rainbow Chicken, are set to retrench more than 3 500 workers in one of the largest industry jobs bloodbaths as they struggle under heavy competition from cheap imported chickens from European Union countries.

The work-streams established by government's task team to process a range of possible short and longer-term interventions include trade measures, health and quality issues, competitiveness, industry growth and transformation, among others.

The dti said the task team would submit a set of short-term and shared interventions for final ratification as soon as the necessary technical work has been completed for the short-term interventions. Meanwhile, government appealed to the industry to do everything possible to prevent any plant closures and retrenchments.

African News Agency

 


Related Articles

Official fuel prices for December: margin hikes...

By: Jason Woosey - IOL The Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) has announced the official petrol and diesel price adjustments for December.

South Africans predicted to spend R224bn this f...

According to the results from the sixth annual Summer Spending Survey by short-term lender Wonga, South Africans are expected to spend an estimated R224 billion over this year’s festive season.

Grocery budgets: Say goodbye to these foods as ...

By: IOL Business Fried chips, potato salad, baked or roasted potatoes, and stews and curries with potatoes – whichever your favourite, you may have to do without if you have any hope of spending less on groceries in the coming weeks. And don’t p...

Black Friday shoppers spent R4.5bn, with jewell...

By: TimesLive Black Friday 2023 levels reflected tougher economic conditions in South Africa, but sales totalled R4.5bn.

December fuel price outlook is good news for bo...

By: IOL With a week to go until December’s fuel price sums are finalised, the outlook is positive for both petrol and diesel.