Lucky Star struggles to meet demand as fish shortages cut production
Oceana says shortages of frozen fish raw material cut Lucky Star’s local canning volumes by 60% and canned-fish sales by 9% in the 11 months to 31 August 2026.
Oceana Group, a South African food producer, reported a mixed performance in the first 11 months of 2026 for its Lucky Star brand, a popular canned fish product. The decline in sales was due to shortages of frozen fish raw material, which led to a 60% drop in local canning production and a 9% decrease in canned fish sales volumes.
Despite the challenges, Lucky Star Foods managed to deliver mixed results, with a strong first half offset by a subdued second half. The company noted that raw material shortages caused production costs to rise as fixed costs were not fully absorbed. However, strong canned meat sales helped mitigate the decline in canned fish sales.
Oceana Group's overall revenue for the period remained in line with the previous year, while operating profit increased, thanks to improved performances from various divisions, including its fishmeal and fish oil business in the US and wild-caught seafood operations. However, the African fishmeal and fish oil business continued to face difficulties, resulting in a significant operating loss.
Written by urgent.news from IOL's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
