South Africans may experience occasional egg shortages on store shelves as the poultry industry continues to recover from last year’s avian influenza outbreak.
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The South African Poultry Association (Sapa) has acknowledged that certain areas are experiencing stock issues due to the industry still being in the process of rebuilding normal production levels. According to Dr. Abongile Balarane from Sapa, 30% of the poultry industry was devastated by the outbreak, which affected several provinces in 2023.
However, there have been no cases of avian flu reported this year.
‘It will take us about 17 months to recover that lost production. Normally we have about 27 million chickens that give us eggs, so that has been down to about 19 million at this stage. We anticipate everything should be back to normal as early as next year, around May,’ Balarane explained.
Last year’s bird flu outbreak led to egg shortages and price hikes, with some stores even rationing egg purchases. Millions of chickens were culled, resulting in significant losses for farmers across various provinces. Despite these challenges, Balarane is optimistic that by May next year, poultry farmers will have fully recovered, and production will return to normal.
‘We also lost some breeding stock. So we have to start by producing fertile eggs which will be placed in incubators. From those incubators you get your day-old chick. From that day-old chick, you have to raise it until it gets to 18 weeks. Once it’s at 18 weeks to 19 weeks then it starts to give you eggs,’ he said.\
The good news is that by Christmas, egg supplies should have improved significantly.
‘Closer to December this year we’ll start to see from that 30% (loss), maybe 20% recovered or 15% recovered. Early January maybe another 5% will come to the system,’ Balarane added.
To address the current shortages, the industry is continuing to import liquid and powdered eggs, allowing fresh eggs to be directed to retailers and consumers. Balarane noted that these imported products are primarily used in bakeries and for industrial purposes.
‘Farmers decided not to take the existing eggs in the market and crack them to make powder and liquid. We said we’ll rather import that product, the liquid and powder, and all the remaining eggs in South Africa we’ll channel to your retailers where people can buy those fresh eggs. We did have some imports from Swaziland, not a huge quantity, just to close the gaps in some of the areas,’ Balarane said.
The Department of Agriculture emphasised that avian influenza is a highly contagious viral disease affecting various species of birds, including those raised for food, as well as pet and wild birds. In rare cases, other mammals, including humans, can contract the virus. The department is continuing its surveillance efforts.
‘All highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) suspect farms are immediately placed under quarantine and no movement of birds, eggs or products are allowed on, off or through these farms. Samples are collected for verification of the suspicion and back and forward tracing is implemented to detect any possible spread of disease.
‘So far most of the affected properties have culled out the chickens and carcasses were disposed of by dumping at an approved hazardous dump site, incineration, rendering or composting on farm; or on-farm burials were allowed by the Environmental Affairs Department,’ the department stated.
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