A R100-million pledge from a businessman and an online trading platform may save the South African pork industry from going belly up.
A stalwart of the industry, Walter Frey of Frey's Food brands, has pledged his own money to underwrite the guaranteed floor price of R20 per kilogram for pig farmers. This as the latest price has plunged to as little as R10 per kilogram, causing huge concern for pig farmers and pork industry stakeholders.
The industry reported that producer prices fell by as much as 40% and resulted in millions of rands in losses following the national Health Department's announcement on listeria last month.
Industry representatives said the recent closure of various plants and abattoirs by big food industry players – as well as the catastrophic drop in the price of pork products – was a “dire crisis”.
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