A poisoned christmas gift. That is what South African breeders are offering red meat lovers of the Rainbow nation. Indeed, pressured by drought and a scarce pasture, they were forced to slaughter their animals to preserve a part of their livestock.

As a result, a fall in the prices of red meat was announced for the months of January and December. The Red Meat Producers Association said it was expecting a shortfall in prices going from 8 to 15%.

However, “if the drought was to extend, supply will be threatened by the hiking prices in the long term. These prices will increase as a result of the rising cost of feeding livestock,” said the association’s president Lardus van Zyl. This change in the feeding costs will mainly be due to the falling production of maize in the country. The most optimistic previsions for the production of the crop, one of the key components of livestock nutrition, forecast an output of 8 million tons this year against 14.2 million last year.

Aaron Akinocho