Summer weather could encourage more braaiing, supporting prices. Internationally, record levels of animal protein weighs on the poultry and beef markets, whilst demand from China for lamb and pork remains strong.

Stuffed chicken is the ultimate in comfort foods. It evokes images of home and family, of special occasions and chilly nights. Unfortunately, it also brings up memories of overeating and weight gain.

Scientists at a university in the United States have identified a new structure of neurons in the poultry brain that may be the starting point for some stress response signals.

Last week, a federal judge in California denied poultry producer Sanderson Farms’s request to dismiss a lawsuit accusing the company of using false and misleading advertising to market its line of “100% natural” chicken products—a tagline that appears on a range of offerings from wings and drumsticks to thighs and whole birds, as well as on the company’s website, print ads, billboards, and TV commercials.

The late rainfall during the planting window of maize threatens to limit the output of the crop in the 2019/20 marketing year.

RCL Foods, the owner of the Rainbow, Nola, Selati and Sunbake brands, on Monday bemoaned the influx of cheap chicken and sugar imports, which it said weighed heavily on its performance in the six months to December.

WINDHOEK- Namibia yesterday became the first African nation to export beef to People’s Republic of China, when it transported the first 21 tonnes of beef to China the world’s largest consumer market.

The South African Poultry Association (SAPA) said on Tuesday that it had noted with alarm that the insidious dumping of chicken from Brazil that plagues the local industry has also taken root in Namibia.

South Africa remains an efficient chicken producer in the global context and has consistently produced chicken cheaper than the European Union (EU) countries. This is according to the latest research from the Bureau for Food and Agricultural Policy (BFAP).

Several of my patients, male and female, are dealing with a particular hormone imbalance of estrogen called estrogen dominance.  This means that their body is getting too much estrogen which has caused a whole domino-effect of problems. Too much estrogen in a woman’s body can increase her risk for breast and endometrial cancers, fibroid tumors and ovarian cysts and disrupt normal menstrual cycles.

Poultry importers have upped the ante in their fierce lobby against proposed duty tariff increases, claiming this would make chicken 32% more expensive for consumers.

Having grabbed 30% of the local chicken market, and killed thousands of local jobs, chicken importers are claiming victory and arguing that the assault on local jobs should continue.

The Emerging Black Importers and Exporters South Africa (Ebiesa) has called on government to stop an application launched by the South African Poultry Association (Sapa) to increase import tariffs on chicken to 82%.

The Association of Meat Importers and Exporters (AMIE) has voiced its concern over proposed new chicken import tariffs on meat from SADC and non-EU countries.

The revenue of the fresh chicken cut market in the European Union is estimated at $18B in 2018. This figure reflects the total revenues of producers and importers (excluding logistics costs, retail marketing costs, and retailers' margins, which will be included in the final consumer price).

The revenue of the chicken egg market in Eastern Europe amounted to $9.7B in 2018, surging by 6.6% against the previous year.

China is to begin importing live chickens from the US as feed shortages due to the coronavirus force poultry farms in the world’s second-biggest economy to start culling millions of young birds.

The higher tariffs on predatory chicken imports from Brazil may well reduce  importers’ profits, but whether or not they will  stem the tide of predatory trade and dumped chicken swamping South African shores remains to be seen. The new tariffs were published in the Government Gazette today.

"There can be no doubt that the 'master plans' of the government for various agricultural industries are only aimed at increasing its production in order to lower the prices for BEE buyers, traders and manufacturers to increase their profitability but who will not pass any price advantage on to the consumers," says Fanie Brink, an independent agricultural economist. 

Whenever complex trade issues hit the headlines, conflicting voices attempt to break down dense regulatory and fiscal information into simplified arguments, which is not always helpful in enlightening the average man in the street.