Nestle is taking steps to shore up production at its South African infant formula business as power outages in the country hit production.

South Africa is experiencing the worst power outages since 2008 as state-owned utilities firm Eskom struggles to manage severe power shortages.

A spokesperson for Nestle told just-food the group's current infant formula stock is not at "optimum levels" due to "operational and infrastructural challenges including electricity".

The spokesperson continued: "To avoid shortages we are implementing precautionary measures that include importing from other Nestle operations."

The company is taking steps to stabilise production in South Africa. "Production at all Nestle operations continue albeit with occasional unplanned interruptions. We do have a business contingency plan which involves using generators and we are also investigating other alternative energy sources for the long term."

Nestle has no plans to raise prices in South Africa and will absorb "all costs" associated with importing products within its own value chain, the spokesperson added.

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