South African production of key foods largely reassuring in face of crisis

An independent research centre, the Bureau for Food and Agricultural Policy (BFAP), has published an overview of five key foods produced in South Africa, as part of its analysis of food and agricultural aspects of the Covid-19 pandemic crisis. The foods are chicken (meat), maize (grains), soybean (oilseeds), citrus (fruits), and potato (vegetables). Regarding chicken, for more than a decade demand has exceeded local production. Until recently, the local industry suffered from high feed costs and very competitively priced imports. However, during 2018 and 2019 the local producers saw their margins improve. Local production is also climbing. The Poultry Masterplan, recently concluded, is forecast to lead to increased production. Weekly slaughters early this year were already 5% up on the figure for last year (20.5-million a week in comparison to 19.5-million/week). Local production is expected to be even higher during the second half of this year.