AFTER THE BELL: Sugar tariffs, pet food and fuel prices walk into a bar…

With cheap imported sugar delivering a bitter blow to profits, a pet food line taking a nasty salmonella hit and a diesel price hike just piling on the pain, there’s a lot to keep South African CEOs awake at night.

There is something about being on holiday for a week, about being reminded of the amazing wildlife that we have, of how wonderful (and funny and interesting) our teenagers are, that makes you think of all the best things in life.

For a moment, perhaps just a brief moment, all is well in the world, the sun is shining, the birds are singing and the Boks are back on top.

But to spend five minutes on the Stock Exchange News Service is to be reminded how tough life must be if you run one of our companies.

I always wonder what is the one thing that keeps our top CEOs awake at night. Which is the one shock they fear the most? And how do they plan for it?

This morning, RCL Foods released its results , which were, on the whole, not great.

There were two main reasons, which for a change had nothing to do with higher power prices.

The first was the sheer impact of cheaper imported sugar. Our sugar industry has gritting its tough-but-not-decaying teeth about this.

The amount of imported sugar has grown dramatically. To the point where government has now acted.

RCL’s pet food line suffered an outbreak of salmonella. Which meant they had to stop production. As a result their revenue from pet food was down by 20%.

I can’t tell you the distress this has caused to five members of my family.

Usually the two dogs and three cats have differing views on matters as diverse as barking at night or who is allowed on the bed and who isn’t (fathers and daughters have been known to differ on this too).

As you might know, pets in our middle-class homes are getting posher . And that means the market is getting more and more competitive.

Pets get used to a particular type of food, and when you don’t produce it anymore your customers don’t just stop buying pet food. They find something else.