TMG Digital reports that more than 1,000 KwaZulu-Natal chicken farmworkers face a bleak Christmas due to increased dumping of chicken imports.  

The import-driven price war led to more than 288,081 tons of chicken brought into the country in the first half of the year and this has hit local poultry farms hard.  RCL Foods, which produces Rainbow Chickens, will halve production at its Hammarsdale plant from January.  But poultry industry insiders warn that for every 10,000 tons of imports as many as 1,000 jobs may be lost and as many as 6,000 affected across the industry.  This has jolted the KwaZulu-Natal Economic Council into action with economic development MEC Sihle Zikalala assigning senior officials to work closely with representatives of workers and the poultry industry in the province to look for solutions.

• Read this report by Bongani Mthethwa in full at BusinessLive

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