Pretoria – Authorities on Wednesday assured consumers that supplies of eggs were steadily increasing and there was no need for panic buying ahead of the festive season.
The Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development said: “Egg stock levels are replenishing steadily and there is no need for panic buying”.
Retailers have been battling egg and poultry shortages owing to an outbreak of bird flu that hit South Africa earlier this year in May. The prices have also gone up.
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The department on Wednesday said it had a few open import permits for eggs and poultry products from a few countries.
“Import of table eggs, fertilized eggs, pasteurised eggs, egg powder, and liquid eggs has been going on for many years in South Africa and has not only started with the current outbreak of the Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI),” explained the department.
“A few countries that include Brazil, U.S.A., Argentina, and others have been exporting eggs to South Africa for quite some time and we are currently processing import permit applications from a few more countries.
“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.”
The department said it does not matter 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 the U.S.A.
This is done so as to prevent the introduction of diseases to SA shores.
“We are happy that the HPI 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 normalize early next year,” the department said.
“‘We will continue to import more eggs should the situation not improve.”
The department said to prepare for the festive season the following have been imported:
- Fertilized eggs – 9 million,
- Day old chicks – 37 802 Tons
- Egg products – 62 Matric Tones,
- Poultry meat – 30 986 Matric Tones
“We have increased fertilised eggs from 1.9 million to 9 million in less than one month. These eggs will be chickens in less than four months,” the department assured.
