There are enough eggs and more to come, the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development (DALRRD) said, confirming that 9 million fertilised eggs have already been imported.
This comes after a wave of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) outbreaks ravaged poultry flocks across South Africa in recent months.
According to the department, the outbreak was now under control and egg stock levels were rising steadily, so “there is no need for panic buying”.
“We are happy that the HPAI outbreak is under control and that 70% of farms that were not infected continue to produce eggs and chickens. Since the egg production cycle is not too long, we expect the situation to normalise early next year. We will continue to import more eggs should the situation not improve,” it said
“The department has a few open import permits for eggs and poultry products from a few countries. Import of table eggs, fertilised eggs, pasteurised eggs, egg powder and liquid eggs has been going on for many years in South Africa.”
Countries that had been exporting eggs to South Africa for some time included Brazil, the US and Argentina, the department said.
“As a department, we don’t dictate which countries should make business sense for South African retailers to import eggs from but only ensure that biosecurity risk assessments are conducted when importers apply for import permits. It does not matter for us which country importers apply to import eggs from for as long as we are satisfied with biosecurity matters in exporting countries irrespective of whether that country is Kenya or USA. This is done so to prevent introduction of diseases to our shores.”
To prepare for the festive season the department said the following had been imported:
∎ Fertilized eggs – 9 million,
∎ Day-old chicks – 37 802 tons
∎ Egg products – 62 tons,
∎ Poultry meat – 30 986 tons
“We will continue to import more eggs should the situation not improve. We have increased fertilised eggs from 1.9 million to 9 million in less than one month. These eggs will be chickens in less 4 months,” the department added.
Cape Times