Eggs stock levels 'steadily' returning to normal - govt
The Department of Agriculture says there is no need for panic buying of eggs as there has been a steady improvement in stock levels.
The country experienced an egg shortage in recent months following an outbreak of bird flu.
The shortage led to skyrocketing prices at retailers.
Spokesperson Reggie Ngcobo says there are few open import permits for eggs and poultry products from a few countries, including Brazil, USA, Argentina, and others, which have been exporting eggs to South Africa for quite some time.
"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."
Ngcobo says the import of table eggs, fertilised eggs, pasteurised eggs, egg powder and liquid eggs has been going on for many years and has not only started with the current outbreak.
“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 normalise early next year. We will continue to import more eggs should the situation not improve”
In an attempt to avoid shortages for the festive season, the government has imported 9 million fertilised eggs, 37 802 tons of day-old chicks, 62 metric tons of Egg products and 30 986 metric tons of poultry meat.
ALSO READ:
